Ao Akuma
by StarryFeathers
Summary: Word on the street is that there is a new fighting style, a whole new way to wage war. That there is a ring leader who can't be touched. They say he is some sort of Demon. Funny, that's me.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the TMNT but Shelly and other side characters used in this fic are owned solely by myself.

 **Note:** I base my writings off of the Classic TMNT comics and/or 2k3 Cartoon series. Any reference to something being wrong that has to do with the Classic toons or 2k12/Nickelodeon series will be ignored.

 **For those of you who read the** _ **What We Hide**_ **series, here at last is the alternate storyline. This was the original storyline for** _ **What We Hide**_ **but was scrapped due to how dark it was. This is not a happy story, it is dark, twisted, and explores a side of Leo not usually mentioned. Tony will make a short appearance but not in the way you will expect. Sit back, buckle up, and get ready for the darkest story I've ever written; a story of loss, revenge, and brutality unlike any other.**

 _"Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides." -Junichiro Tanizaki_

A figure in a dark hoodie and dark wash jeans was leaning heavily on a black cane as he searched for a needed key to enter the building he were standing in front of. At first glance, this individual looked like nothing more than an ordinary citizen. A closer look, though, revealed that this individual was one of the mutants living in the City, one who appeared to have been brutalized. A silver scarf was layered to cover the neck and lower part of the face, hiding all but the edges of some nasty looking scars. After a few moments, the needed key was found and utilized. With a gentle push the door swung open, and the individual stepped inside. There was a soft sigh from the mutant as he glanced up the stairs that led to the upper floor. He grunted in something akin to frustration before walking over to the , with slow and obviously struggled movements, the mutant made his way up the stairs, gripping the railing while leaning heavily on the cane with each step upward. When he finally reached the floor he seemed to be looking for, he paused at the top, breathing in sharply. The mutant's green hand was gripping the banister, knuckles nearly white from the force behind the grip. He grunted and shook his head before limping over to the door, again leaning heavily on the cane while he searched through the keys again. This time, however, the door flew open before he could fit the key to the lock.

"Leo, where the hell have you been?" a young woman sputtered, her amber curls and light mocha skin accented by the warm light behind her.

The mutant who had just made his way up the stairs, simply sighed and made a gesture that seemed to be a request to enter.

"Yeah, yeah get in here," she snapped, shoving the door further open to allow him in.

Leo made another gesture as he passed her.

"Don't you sass me," the woman snapped, "I _know_ what you do at night. Don't pretend those stairs actually bother you."

The mutant grunted before easing himself onto the couch with a sigh, running a hand down his right leg before massaging the knee. The woman closed the door then looked at him with a frown. Leo ignored her for the time being, working his fingers along the thigh and knee of his right leg, pain flickering through his features every few moments. The woman shook her head and walked over, batting his hand away before starting to work the cramping muscle herself.

"You should really take better care of this leg," she muttered.

Leo touched the back of her hand to get her attention, then signed out something with his hands, which caused the woman to smile.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but it's kinda hard not to be your best friend when I'm your _only_ friend, jackass," she teased.

Leo chuckled roughly, pulling his leg away and rubbing his face with a free hand, which caused the woman to sigh softly. They remained about a foot apart, the woman leaning over, her elbows resting on her thighs as Leo looked away; his scarf was still covering his neck and lower face.

"Are you going out tonight?" she asked after a moment.

Leo glanced down at one of his hands but didn't reply. He shifted forward and touched her knee gently before making a gesture that indicated something akin to "maybe" before moving his other hand and adding another motion to the gesture. It was sign language, not the typical Standard American Sign Language, but something close. In reality, it was something that Leo had developed years ago after a near fatal accident had rendered him mute. He had told her "sorry" in the best way he could. The woman shook her head, stood, and then walked away towards the kitchen. She seemed more worried than angry.

"You come home broken up, exhausted, with your knees and hip in worse shape than they already are. I don't understand why you do this to yourself," the woman snapped, throwing plastic dishes into the sink and watching them bounce with a grunt of satisfaction.

Leo rose slowly to his feet, stumbling and wincing as his leg twinged painfully. He limped over to her, leaving his cane against the couch he had previously been sitting on. He walked with the stiff, stumbling steps of someone who knew they could collapse at any moment. Once he reached the young woman, he reached out to grip the counter, then gently placed a hand on the small of her back in a gesture meant to comfort. She glanced at him and then glared when she saw the smile on his face. She pushed a finger to his nose which only caused him to smile more, revealing the scars along his mouth.

"Don't you...dammit," she groaned and muttered angrily, "How the hell did you learn to do puppy eyes like that? I can never stay angry with you."

Leo chuckled roughly, the sound of his voice harsh and garbled. He made a series of gestures in reply.

 _I had a little brother._

He seemed to pause after that before clearing his throat and standing upright, his hand resting more firmly on the counter after he returned it to the surface. The woman laid her hand on his, and neither moved for a moment; the abrupt silence seemed to stretch on forever.

"Leo… have you ever thought about contacting them? It's been ten years...they might've… changed their minds," she whispered.

Leo jerked up and moved away as if he'd been stung. The smile was gone, instead and in its place, a dark frown was turning down the edges of his mouth and twisting the scars there. His hands moved in a sharp gesture that could be interpreted as anger.

 _They want nothing to do with me._

"Leo," the woman started, "It's been ten years. How do you know they aren't worried? That they haven't been looking for you? Last time any of them had heard from you, you were suicidal."

Leo turned and glared, his hands moving in subtle gestures accented by bold movements.

 _Then they can continue worrying or think I am dead._

With that, he turned and limped away, snatching up his cane and leaning into it as he passed the couch before entering a back room and slamming its door closed.

"Oh, Leo," the woman sighed.

She finished washing the dishes before making something for dinner. Once it was done, she opened the fridge to grab two bottles of beer, bumped her hip into the fridge door to close it and then walked down towards the end of the hall. She stood outside Leo's door for a moment, smiling at the blue sign hanging there with his name on it. Across from it was her room, with a bright cheery yellow sign and her name _Shelly_ written on it. They had made the signs on a joke one evening and never took them down. It seemed to help with the dreary and battered look of the cheap apartment they shared. Shelly shook her head, before knocking lightly on Leo's door with a knuckle. When there was no response she adjusted her hold on the plates and drinks before opening the door and stepping inside.

Leo was stretched out on his back with a headset on and the drone of loud music coming from them. His eyes were closed and he had changed out of his street clothes. Instead he was wearing only a pair of loose black lounge pants, the scars on his torso and arms all too visible. Most of the scar tissue was from burns but some looked like scars from a whipping, and others were obviously self inflicted knife wounds to his forearms. Shelly shivered a little when she caught sight of the scars on his throat and face. Those scars never ceased to make her cringe. They too were mostly from burns, but also accompanied by brutal slash marks that crossed over his throat more than once, up his face, through his right eye, and even around his mouth.

Shelly turned away from him and looked for his desk, snorting in humor when she saw the light armor tossed across it. she pushed it to the floor with her elbow and then sat the food and drinks down. She jumped when she spotted his mask, it was shaped like a japanese demon mask. Leo called it a hannya samurai mask. Most of Leo's armor and gear was black or dark grey, but his mask was blue. In reality the mask was part of a lightweight helmet that helped protect his head. There were sensors in the right side that gave Leo a warning for incoming attacks since he was blind in that eye. All of this gear was for something that Shelly didn't like.

Street fighting.

A brutal all out, no rules, series of fighting matches with cash prizes to the winners. She couldn't deny that despite Leo's handicaps, he was _good_. Leo won more than he lost, but was always in horrible shape after each fight. People died in those fights at least Leo always came home. Shelly held his mask and shivered at the wicked, fanged, grin it offered her.

On the streets they called him _Ao Akuma_ or "Blue Devil". She wasn't sure she wanted to know why. She glanced over at Leo who was still stretched out on his bed, headphones firmly in place, with his eyes closed. He knew she was there, he was just ignoring her.

She sat his mask down, walked over to him and jerked his headphones off his head. Leo sat up and glared, his good eye flashing gold in annoyance.

"Next time you fight, make sure I am there," she stated firmly.

Leo raised an eye ridge at her, then after a moment he nodded before signing out his reply.

 _You won't like it._

"I know, but you're my best friend Leo. I want to cheer you on," she whispered, then turned away abruptly to walk over to his desk.

After gathering up the plates and drinks she sat on his bed and offered them to him. Leo accepted them and watched her curiously. Neither of them made any attempt at conversation for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry I brought up your family," Shelly whispered after finishing her food, "and for what it's worth I'm sorry about what they did to you."

Leo shrugged roughly without looking at her but Shelly saw the sorrow in the down turned face. She knew he missed them just like he missed _Him_. Leo had so many secrets, so many horrible memories, and so much sorrow. Despite this, his heart was kind, which was a rare thing in someone who had been through the kind of horrors he had experienced. Around Leo's neck was a simple silver chain necklace with three small pendants. The first was a silver disc with the letter "L" cut out, the second was another silver disc but this time the letter "T" was cut out. The last pendant was the Japanese symbol for _Yu_ which Leo had later told her meant courage. Leo was never without this necklace. _He_ had given Leo the "T" pendant and worn the "L" pendant on a matching chain. The last pendant was one that Leo had gotten for himself as a reminder to never give up against the odds he faced. Shelly reached forward and gathered the pendants in her hand. Leo paused, allowing her to look at them.

"You've never told me his name," she asked softly.

Leo placed his hand over her's and sighed then signed into her hand a name that he hadn't told anyone in years.

 _Tony._

 **A/N: I know I've been MIA on here lately. I've had issues in RL to deal with; mostly medical.** _ **Astra, What We Lose and What We Gain,**_ **and** _ **Fallen Angel**_ **will be continued as soon as finals are over and I can catch my breath. This story will be updated bit by bit as I get further along with the others mentioned above. Please leave a review!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the TMNT but Shelly and other side characters used in this fic are owned solely by myself.

 **Note:** I base my writings off of the Classic TMNT comics and/or 2k3 Cartoon series. Any reference to something being wrong that has to do with the Classic toons or 2k12/Nickelodeon series will be ignored.

 **For those of you who read the** _ **What We Hide**_ **series, here at last is the alternate storyline. This was the original storyline for** _ **What We Hide**_ **but was scrapped due to how dark it was. This is not a happy story, it is dark, twisted, and explores a side of Leo not usually mentioned. Tony will make a short appearance but not in the way you will expect. Sit back, buckle up, and get ready for the darkest story I've ever written; a story of loss, revenge, and brutality unlike any other.**

* * *

 _"Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides." -Junichiro Tanizaki_

 **Chapter 1**

The next morning Shelly was pinning back her hair while wearing only her underwear and a set of layered sports bras, which worked better for her in her line of work than regular bras. She was looking into the mirror in her room with a frown when she glanced over at the clock her frown deepened. The turned her head and called out her open door.

"LEO! GET UP!" she shouted, "You're going to be late for work!"

There was no reply to which she groaned before storming out of her room and across the hall to pound on his closed door.

"Leo!" she snarled.

The door to the bathroom opened and Leo looked out wearing nothing but a towel with his toothbrush in his mouth. His bemused and somewhat annoyed look said everything. He raised an eye ridge at her before turning back to the sink to spit. Shelly groaned and rolled her eyes at him.

"You know most people would find it really creepy that we're so comfortable around each other that we walk around like this but that we aren't dating," she remarked dryly, pointing to his towel before gesturing to her own attire.

Leo snorted in response as he finished brushing his teeth. He gave her a pointed look before limping past, using the wall for balance. Shelly rolled her eyes but let him pass into his room to finish getting ready. It was something of an inside joke between them. Shelly was, to put it delicately, not Leo's type. But more importantly Shelly wasn't interested in Leo that way, he was like the brother she never had. In return he regarded her like a protective big brother who adored his sister does. It worked for them, they had been best friends for nearly nine years now, ever since he woke from a coma screaming and she had been the nurse at his side.

Shelly watched Leo move around his room with a frown. His right hip and leg were bothering him today. As much as he tried to ignore the damage done to his body, Leo was lucky to be able to walk, let alone fight. Shelly sighed and shook her head, Leo had gone through nine years of intense physical therapy to get to where he was now, and she worried constantly that one bad move in a fight would mess all of that up.

Leo worked as a nurse's aide at the same hospital that Shelly worked as a nurse at. Although Leo's proper tile would be closer to secretary crossed with a drill sergeant. Leo organized, filed, and prepped all the paperwork for any surgeries on a given day and most importantly Leo ran The Board. He got to decide which nurses, interns, and doctors got which time slot in the surgery bays. Needless to say he wasn't always very popular.

Shelly sighed before walking back into her room and quickly downing her golden colored nurse's scrubs after pulling a long sleeve white top on. The cheerful color of the scrubs had been voted on by the staff to help with stressful situations after the Hospital decided to switch to a color coded scrub standard. She was just finishing up fixing her hair when Leo leaned against her door frame wearing the grey nurse's aide scrubs. His silver scarf was firmly in place around his neck, looped and layered to help hide the scars on his neck and face. He had been given special permission to wear it since his job was mostly at a desk and rarely hands on with patients. Plus Leo's scars were not pleasant to look at; the less people pointed and stared at him, the better, as Leo tended to get very uncomfortable. He was swinging his cane absent mindedly as he waited for her, a soft _click_ reaching their ears each time it connected with the wall. Leo's arms were covered by a long sleeve black shirt that helped detour questions about his scars as well.

"You ready?" Shelly asked with a sigh, and then smiled wryly as he heaved a long suffering sigh in response.

Leo shifted up from the wall, and moved out into the living room as Shelly scrambled around getting her things before closing her bedroom door and joining him in the living room. Leo was selecting an apple from the fruit bowl with his jacket on as Shelly darted around the kitchen grabbing her coffee thermos and ID. Leo watched her with a shake of his head, mildly amused with her antics.

"Okay, let's go, we gotta run to get to the subway in time," Shelly ordered, holding the door open for Leo who limped through it and started down the stairs. Leo groaned at the idea of having to run but seemed to brace himself. He'd only gotten down a few stairs when she joined him after locking their apartment door. Shelly grabbed his good arm and let him lean into her as they made the slow progress down. Once they got to the ground floor, Leo grunted and pulled away, limping to the door to open it for her.

Shelly rolled her eyes at him but stepped out and darted down the small flight of stairs to the sidewalk. Leo finished locking the door before making his way down the stairs to stand beside Shelly. She offered him her arm to which Leo rolled his good eye and took it. They walked down the street at a quick pace, just short of running really, with their arms locked together. Their quick pace brought them to the stairs of the subway they needed which caused Leo to groan before making his way down them with Shelly's help. Once they get through the gates and into a subway car Leo sank into an empty seat with a sigh, fingers digging into his bad knee. Shelly stood next to him, gripping a hand hold and watching Leo with a worried look.

"You okay?" she asked.

Leo nodded and sighed roughly, fingers still rubbing the bad knee. He signed out something after a moment.

 _It's just sore today; must be going to rain or something._

Shelly frowned and then looked over at the person across the aisle after quickly searching her pockets only to realize her phone wasn't there. Rather than dig around for it she decided to see if the man across the aisle was friendly.

"Pardon me, if you don't mind," she asked, pausing to wait for a response. She genuinely hoped that she wasn't ignored, it was a well-known fact that most people on the subway didn't care about anyone else that rode along beside them. Most people just wanted to be left alone.

"Hmm?" the man inquired without looking up, he was one of the rare ones who responded.

"Do you know if it's supposed to rain today?" Shelly asked softly, offering a smile.

Leo watched the exchange with a critical eye, equal parts curious and wary; most people still had issues with Mutants. He wasn't sure he was ready to deal with people being rude this early in the morning. But the man only sighed and turned a few pages in the paper he was reading without looking at them.

"Looks like rain later tonight," the man replied, again not looking up.

"Thank you." Shelly replied before offering Leo a smile and shaking her head, "I don't know how you do it. You always know when it's going to rain."

Leo grunted and signed out a reply.

 _That's what happens when you have your body put back together with screws and bolts. You feel rain coming._

Shelly laughed softly, covering her mouth in an attempt to muffle it. Leo smiled a little but leaned back into the seat and curiously watched the people around them. The man Shelly had asked about the weather was peeking over his paper at them now. He seemed to blink in surprise at the sight of Leo.

"One of those Mutants eh?" he stated.

Leo tensed and glanced at the man, giving him a look of guarded curiosity. Leo only nodded in reply to the man. Shelly offered the man a friendly smile in reply.

"This is Leo," she offered, "and I'm Shelly."

The man watched Leo, eyeing the harsh scars that were just visible behind his scarf. The two men regarded each other with guarded eyes. Leo tense as a spring his aching body ready for an attack while appearing loose and relaxed. Shelly was still smiling, hoping that nothing would happen to ruin her halfway decent morning. The man with the paper lowered and then folded it.

"I've never met a Mutant to be honest," the man stated, watching Leo and taking note of the wary gaze he was being offered, "I've always wanted to though. Just curiosity I guess."

The man glanced up at the passing subway tunnel before reaching out a hand to Leo who blinked in surprise. Leo shifted with a pained grunt, leaned forward and cautiously took the man's hand.

"Nice strong grip you've got," the man laughed softly which caused Leo to smile and nod.

Shelly relaxed a little as she saw Leo accept the man's hand.

"You having a good morning?" the man asked them both, "I'm in town visiting my grandkids so I'm pretty happy myself."

Shelly smiled and shrugged as Leo nodded.

"We're having a pretty decent morning. Just heading off to work actually," she replied.

"You're a quiet one aren't ya?" the man chuckled at Leo.

Leo snorted before giving Shelly a look that seemed to be a request to explain. He was obviously uncomfortable but trying to be polite.

"Leo can't talk, he was hurt so he has to use sign language to communicate," Shelly explained gently, trying to be cautious of the stereotypes that Mutants were just animals.

With Leo's situation things usually got complicated, some anti-mutant individuals made fun of Leo for not being able to speak often pointing out that his disability made him a "regular animal". Although Shelly watched Leo shrug off such insults she knew the words stung but Leo was too kind to lash out most of the time.

"That explains the scars," the man grunted gesturing to Leo's face.

Leo tugged his scarf up to hide the scars a bit more, obviously self-conscious over the attention, but he nodded. The man seemed to wince when he noticed Leo's quick movement to adjust the scarf.

"Sorry," the man offered, "I didn't mean to-."

Leo shrugged and signed out a reply that Shelly translated for him.

"He says he's used to people being blunter about it," Shelly offered.

"Ah, yeah I can imagine some harsh words," the man offered.

The subway slowed interrupting their conversation which caused Shelly to look up and wince.

"Oh! Leo this is our stop," she gasped offering Leo a hand to help him up.

As the subway car eased to a stop Leo gripped her hand, braced against his cane and then rose awkwardly to his feet.

"It was nice to meet you but we have to run," Shelly called out to the man as she tugged Leo out the door of the subway car. Leo managed to twist around enough to wave goodbye which cause the man to chuckle and wave back. As Leo and Shelly exited the car they moved together through the sea of people using the same exit they sought and headed up the stairs to the surface. Upon reaching the surface the rest of their trip to the Hospital was uneventful that was until they entered the locker rooms and clocked in for the day. Shelly darted off to get her charts for the morning and Leo made his way towards the hub where his desk was. What he saw as he approached made him groan inwardly.

New Interns.

At least a few of them were Mutants this round. But a whole new group of people to convince to respect him despite his ability to speak was not something Leo wanted to deal with today. He cheered up a little when he spotted Martha guiding the new group around. She was the head nurse and known for her harsh yet motherly way to teaching. She had also pretty much claimed Leo as her adopted child over the past ten years. Leo attempted to slip past the group into the safety of the hub and his desk but was spotted.

"Leo! Hi there sweetie get over here so I can introduce you!" Martha called, the medium sized woman cocked a hip and gave Leo a look that stated he didn't have a choice in the matter. Her greying hair was tied back in a bun, and her rich chocolate colored skin seemed to glow from her cheery smile. Leo sighed, turned and limped over to her, leaning on his cane as he came to a stop beside her. Martha looked him over and huffed.

"You need to eat, you're looking skinny again," Martha mused, eyeing Leo's almost awkwardly lean frame with a worried frown.

Leo just heaved a sigh and looked over the nursing and surgeon interns with a critical eye. Each one shifted nervously under his gaze and most avoided meeting his eye. Martha gave Leo another look over before turning back to the interns.

"Alright you guys, this is Leo. As I was telling you before the way we determine who gets the surgeries depends on my, the Chief, and _Leo's_ discretion. Leo is not a surgeon nor is he a nurse but he is an aide. A damn good one," Martha introduced, patting Leo's arm affectionately which caused a few people to chuckle as Leo grunted, "One thing you need to know is that Leo was badly injured a few years back and can no longer speak. Another thing is to never piss him off. The Chief and I value his judgement, if he tells us you aren't ready for a solo surgery or to stand in on one, you won't."

A young woman raised her hand cautiously causing Martha to pause and nod to her.

"Not trying to be rude but how are we supposed to communicate if he…you…can't speak?" the woman started, blushing halfway through her question and directing it to Leo instead of Martha.

Leo shifted his weight, eased off his cane, tucked it into the crook of an arm and then responded to her question with a series of signing gestures before again placing the end of his cane down and leaning onto it.

The whole group stared blankly at him before a man grinned once he realized what Leo had been doing.

"Sign Language," the man offered, "Nice to meet you as well."

The rest of the group all seemed to chuckle when they came to the same conclusion. The young woman blushed obviously feeling awkward about her question. Leo smiled at the man who had understood the greeting before glancing at Martha for her to continue.

Martha nodded before elaborating, "Precisely, but Leo also has a device at his station that speaks for him if he needs to make announcements or if you don't understand Sign Language."

Another girl was giving Leo an odd look and cautiously raised her hand. Martha stopped talking and waited for Leo's next move. Leo glanced at the woman and nodded.

"Can I ask why you get to wear a scarf? We were all told it was against dress code to have anything like that on," she inquired.

Rather than trying to explain, Leo decided to go for the shock factor and end the ceaseless questions about his attire that he knew would continue for the rest of the day. Leo reached up and pulled down his scarf, revealing the livid scars across his mouth and throat. The girl who had asked the question went pale and there was a soft gasp from the group.

"Holy shit," one man breathed.

"Damn," another muttered.

The young man who had recognized Leo's sign language stared, mouth slightly ajar, pale green eyes wide in shock.

"Oh my god," the first girl breathed.

Leo twitched uncomfortably under their stares before quickly adjusting the scarf back into place, again hiding the ugly scars behind the delicate silver scarf. He hated showing his scars, but often it was the quickest way to get people to stop asking questions. Leo adjusted the scarf, before clearing his throat and looking at Martha who offered him a comforting smile. Everyone in the group was silent; Leo shifted his weight and offered a wry grin followed quickly by a wink to Martha.

"You are awful," Martha laughed, "You like scaring folks don't you?"

Ragged laughter from Leo was the only response which caused the group of interns to chuckle nervously. Leo nodded to the group and signed out something to them.

 _Please don't feel like you can't ask me questions. I might not like them, but I would rather you ask than stare._

Martha quickly translated his gestures for the group who nodded to Leo in reply. Up until now none of the three Mutants in the group had said anything. But one cocked her head and gave Leo an odd look.

"You seem familiar," she offered.

Leo turned his attention to her, raising an eye ridge at the sleek she-wolf. He regarded her without moving for a moment before shrugging and shaking his head to indicate he didn't recognize her. The she-wolf started to say something else but Martha cut her off.

"Alrighty enough bothering Leo, we have more of the tour to go through before each of you start your rounds with your assigned group leaders," Martha instructed, caught Leo's arm gently as he turned away, "See you at lunch?"

Leo nodded before gently pulling away and limping towards his station. He was still trying to decide on whether or not it had been a good idea to show his scars. It was rare that anyone ever saw them.

Meanwhile Shelly was just meeting with the new Neurosurgeon who was standing in front of the currently filled board flipping through the files for the patients he would be operating on that day. Shelly was trying not to stare at the figure in front of her, who looked freakishly like Leo, but a bit more solid, and with skin that was more olive green rather than Leo's leaf green tone. Another turtle mutant, although Shelly knew that there were a surprising number of them, this one looked too much like Leo to be coincidence. The male mutant glanced up at her and offered a gentle smile, his eyes were deep chocolate brown and carried a soothing look.

"You must be Shelly?" he offered, chuckling a little at the irony of her name, "Is it just me or am I being set up for a joke here?"

Shelly laughed despite her curiosity; it was a joke among the staff about her friendship with Leo, she should've known that the same sort of teasing would be raised while working with this surgeon.

"I've probably heard every joke and pun," she laughed, "my best friend happens to be a mutant turtle."

The surgeon chuckled, before offering a hand which Shelly accepted and gave a firm shake to.

"Donatello, I prefer Donnie though," he stated, then softer, "and really? I'd love to meet them sometime. There are so few mutant reptiles and I've never met a female of-"

Shelly laughed cutting him off which caused him to blush awkwardly when he realized he'd made a mistake. Shelly was shaking her head before she replied.

"No sorry, my best friend is a guy," she laughed, "But I understand the confusion. When most girls say 'best friend' they are referring to another girl not a guy."

Donatello coughed, laughed, and then cleared his throat.

"Well, now that I've embarrassed myself…" Donatello laughed, "Please let your friend know I'd still like to meet him, if that's alright. Like I said there are so few reptile mutants it's always nice to meet another."

Shelly offered a wry smile.

"If you haven't met him yet you'll probably meet him soon," Shelly laughed.

"Why's that?" Donatello asked, then blinked and sputtered when he saw his surgery had been moved on The Board, "What…"

The Board was something new; Leo had built and programed the thing from scratch. Well almost from scratch, he'd had some help. The Board was connected to Leo's computer, anything he wanted changed on it he could adjust with a few clicks or by dragging and dropping the various entries. Once Leo finalized the changes The Board would update for everyone to see. Since Leo had, had the weekend off things had gotten rather jumbled for the day. Leo was obviously working on adjusting the impending traffic jam. Leo had taken Donatello's surgery and moved it from a morning slot to an evening slot placing a more critical surgery in the previous time slot. He had also adjusted the most urgent surgeries out of the high traffic and most ER prone time slots to help prevent them from being bumped in favor of an ER patient coming in on an ambulance.

Shelly laughed at the startled look on Donatello's face and grinned when he jumped as his pager went off, alerting him to the change in schedule.

That was another feature Leo had perfected, utilizing his computer to correspond to changes made to The Board with messages sent out to the doctors and nurses it affected on their pagers. It helped smooth over confusion and backlog with changes and prevented traffic jams for people trying to get patients into surgery rooms. Overall Leo had managed to streamline the system without compromising patient care and he was constantly in touch with the heads of each surgical team as well as the head nurses on each floor.

Shelly chuckled, holding her files out to Donatello, before replying to his earlier question.

"He controls the Board schedule," Shelly informed.

"Beautiful piece of technology," Donatello mused after he recovered from his surprise.

"Yeah Leo did an amazing job with it, he built and programed it mostly from scratch," Shelly replied, "He's awesome with technology actually."

Donatello tensed at the sound of that name, eyes widening slightly in a moment of hope, then felt his hopes crushed by her next words. Leonardo had never been the best with technology but still…Leonardo often showed more insight than most of them would guess. Donatello decided to step out on a limb despite knowing the odds were against it.

"Is your friend Leo's full name _Leonardo_ by any chance?" Donatello asked cautiously.

Shelly gave him an odd look.

"No actually it's just Leo, Leo Lake actually," Shelly replied, then with some mild curiosity, "Why?"

"Thought maybe I knew him," Donatello replied with a shrug and a broad smile, "I…I used to know a mutant turtle named Leonardo who liked to go by Leo is all. I thought it might've been him."

Shelly shrugged but shook her head.

"Nah sorry, but hey he tends to be friendly to other mutants so maybe you guys will get along. He doesn't have any friends other than me really," Shelly laughed.

Donatello chuckled then glanced back up at The Board and sighed as he looked over the adjusted schedule.

"Any chance I could get him to adjust my surgery time to earlier in the evening?" he laughed, "I had plans with some family friends I haven't seen in ages and I'd hate to cancel."

"It's always worth a shot, but not likely," Shelly laughed before finally handing off the patient files to Donatello, "Once Leo sets the Board it only changes if something more important shows up on his desk. But he's at the main Hub if you want to try."

With that Shelly turned and quickly strode away to check on her patients leaving a somewhat flustered Donatello behind to look over the paperwork and contemplate his next move with the person in charge of his schedule. Donatello sighed before heading down to the Hub in hopes that he could maybe convince this "Leo" to give him a bit of a break on his first day back in New York. As Donatello strode down the main hall, taking advantage of a slower pace due to no longer having a pressing schedule for his surgery, he read and reread the chart for his patient. Chewing his lip as he walked Donatello wasn't paying close enough attention to the people around him and ran directly into someone despite attempting to move to the side at the last second when he saw them in the corner of his eye. A strangled yelp and the sensation of crashing into someone made Donatello reach out and catch the individual. Despite catching the person, Donatello dropped his files and cursed under his breath. The figure beside him stumbled and straightened up with Donatello's grip steadying them.

"Sorry! I should've been paying-" Donatello froze as he looked at the figure he was holding onto, " _Leo!?"_

 **A/N: Oh look an update! Oh look a wild Donatello….he might want to avoid mentioning the slight flirting with Shelly around Leo. Also My medical stuff is ongoing and constantly gets in the way but is at least manageable now.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the TMNT but Shelly and other side characters used in this fic are owned solely by myself.

 **Note:** I base my writings off of the Classic TMNT comics and/or 2k3 Cartoon series. Any reference to something being wrong that has to do with the Classic toons or 2k12/Nickelodeon series will be ignored.

 **For those of you who read the** _ **What We Hide**_ **series, here at last is the alternate storyline. This was the original storyline for** _ **What We Hide**_ **but was scrapped due to how dark it was. This is not a happy story, it is dark, twisted, and explores a side of Leo not usually mentioned. Tony will make a short appearance but not in the way you will expect. Sit back, buckle up, and get ready for the darkest story I've ever written; a story of loss, revenge, and brutality unlike any other.**

 _"Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides." -Junichiro Tanizaki_

 **Chapter 2**

Donatello stood open mouthed in complete shock as he stared at the figure in front of him. This mutant he was gripping by the arm looked _a lot_ like his missing older brother Leonardo. But then Donatello paused, the heavy scaring to the face had changed the features just enough that, he might be wrong. But the one good eye was the right color, it had the same wary fire that Leonardo's always had, the same cold confidence. Then as quickly as Donatello saw that confidence and fire it was gone, instantly replaced with a fearful embarrassment.

 _This Mutant was scared of him._ Leonardo had never been scared of him. Leonardo had never been scared of _anyone_. The male mutant attempted to twist away from his grip and nearly fell. It was then that Donatello became aware of people around them telling him to release this mutant; who he was suddenly aware of the fact was trembling in his grip. Donatello let him go and awkwardly stepped back. Leo stumbled, staggered, and nearly fell as he tumbled back unsteadily into the wall behind him.

"I-I'm sorry…you…looked like someone…someone I knew," Donatello stammered as a few nurses glared and helped the shaken Mutant steady himself.

Donatello stumbled as he was jostled out of the way feeling very flustered and embarrassed himself.

"Leo?" a nurse was asking, "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

 _This_ was Leo, Shelly's friend, the man he'd been on his way to talk to. Leo was leaning against the wall, trembling, staring at the ground and refusing eye contact. He was obviously distressed.

Donatello took another step back as one of the nurses ordered him to get away. Raising his hands in a not threatening manner, Donatello stepped far enough away to make sure that this Leo was okay but to avoid being in the way. His files were still scattered on the floor and along with them a black cane was coming to a rolling stop. Donatello knelt and began gathering up the files, making a mental note to thank whoever had secured each individual paper before filing them. As he was finishing gathering his things, he touched the fallen cane. With a sigh he picked it up and stood before stepping forward nervously.

"I'm sorry if I scared you…I wasn't paying attention and then you reminded me of someone I lost. It surprised me," Donatello stated softly as he offered the cane to Leo.

Leo glanced up at Donatello through the trio of nurses that were sheltering him and after a moment reached forward to accept the cane. It was then that Shelly came running up.

"Leo! Are you okay? What happened?" she demanded as she pushed her way past the trio shielding him.

"I wasn't paying attention and ran into him," Donatello offered quickly, "Then I mistook him for someone else."

Shelly gave Donatello a dark look before locking arms with Leo and leading him away allowing him to lean onto her. It was then that Donatello saw the reason for the cane; Leo was limping so heavily that he must be in a great deal of pain from the collision. Donatello rubbed a hand across his face and groaned inwardly; there went his chances of making a friend. Let alone of convincing the man to let him adjust his schedule. Down the hall, Shelly was helping Leo sit down into one of the chairs. One of the nurses that had rushed over to help bumped into Donatello and acted like nothing happened as he caused Donatello to nearly drop his paperwork again. Donatello grunted and sputtered in surprise just barely managing to avoid dropping everything. Internally Donatello was reeling, he wasn't sure if this was Leonardo, or just another male mutant turtle who had a vague resemblance and shared the name. The coincidence was too much but at the same time the mannerisms of this mutant were not at all the same as his elder brother. Donatello started to step forward to apologize but was cut off by a male nurse intern with sea-foam green eyes.

"I just…I was-" Donatello started.

"Just go, you've done enough," the man snapped, blocking Leo from view.

Donatello sighed and retreated allowing those that were checking on Leo to help him. As Donatello retreated, Leo watched, tense and trembling. Shelly was trying to get him to respond, but Leo was watching Donatello retreat with a mixture of regret and fear. For a brief moment Donatello had entered his life again but he had been too terrified to respond. The collision with his brother had caused Leo more pain than he would like to admit, his whole body ached, but his heart was breaking.

Had he lost the chance to ever repair things with Donatello?

Did he even want to?

"Leo?" Shelly demanded, "Are you okay?"

Leo nodded and looked down before signing out a quick reply despite his trembling hands.

 _Just a little rattled I was heading to the Chief's Office._

Shelly frowned before starting to check him over for injuries. Leo pushed her hands away his cheeks coloring slightly.

 _I'm fine_. He insisted with a sharp series of gestures.

"I think he's okay miss," the nursing intern chuckled, grinning as he interpreted Leo's signing.

Leo glanced up at him, recognized him from the tour group earlier and flushed slightly before looking away. Shelly glanced up at the young man.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"Haniel," he offered, "I was assigned as your intern…and I um…followed you when you ran over."

Shelly gave him an odd look before glancing back at Leo who was watching the exchange curiously.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Shelly insisted.

Leo nodded then slowly started to get up, grimacing and grunting as his right leg buckled, he toppled forward into Shelly who helped him steady himself. Haniel stepped forward to help but was shooed away by Shelly. Leo smiled slightly behind his scarf as Haniel stumbled back to avoid being swatted. Leo leaned heavily into his cane while gripping Shelly's arm, thankful she was stronger than she looked. Haniel waited, his seafoam-green eyes watching with a curious expression. Leo steadied himself, using his cane for balance while leaning into Shelly for support. After a moment Leo pulled away from Shelly and started to limp down the hall. Shelly walked along just behind him for a bit, then stopped and gave Haniel a look that clearly stated her annoyance with him.

"If you're my intern get over here and let me brief you," Shelly snapped, resisting the urge to laugh as he flushed and scrambled after her.

Shelly slowed her pace so not to bother Leo but continued to follow him in order to make sure that he was alright. Haniel caught up to her and walked just beside Shelly as they followed Leo's slow progress towards the Chief of Surgery's office. Once Leo reached the elevator and glared at them once he saw he was being followed Shelly turned away and had Haniel follow her. As they left she started to rattle off the names and conditions of the patients they were caring for over the next shift. Both Shelly and Leo had a 36 hour shift ahead of them, the interns had a 48 hour shift. It was going to be a long shift.

Leo heaved a sigh and leaned against the back of the elevator his mind buzzing with repetitive fears and doubts. Part of him wanted to reach out to Donatello despite the shame and fear he felt just thinking of his family. What they had done to him, was it even possible to forgive them? Until now Leo had never even considered it, last night he'd gotten angry at the mere mention of contacting them, but after seeing Donatello there was a moment of weakness. Fear eventually won out. Leo knew he couldn't handle the agony of facing Donatello only to be attacked; it had been bad enough the first time ten years ago. Leo tipped his head back and let it rest against the back of the elevator with his eyes closed. The soft _ding_ of the elevator caused him to straighten just as the doors were opening. Leo sighed heavily and moved forward with a wince, his hip and leg aching from the collision. He limped down the hall, glancing around as he walked, this level of the hospital was relatively calm at this early hour. As he reached the Chief of Surgery's office door he knocked softly with his knuckles and then waited.

"Come in!" a man's voice called from within.

Leo eased the door open before adjusting his scarf to make sure it covered his scars and entering the room.

"Morning Leo," the chief greeted, nodding as Leo closed the door behind him.

Leo nodded a greeting in reply before limping forward to see two people in the tan scrubs of interns seated in front of the Chief. One was a petite little brunette woman with hazel eyes that were filled with mirth the other was a lean man with curly blonde hair and brown eyes who looked tragically bored.

The Chief stood from his seat, the man's salt and pepper hair was neatly trimmed and he was offering Leo a hand in greeting. Leo limped forward and took his hand giving it a quick shake before turning to look at the duo in the chairs who was watching him curiously.

"Marina, Nathan, this is Leo. He is the young man I told you about," The Chief stated, "Leo, these two will be training with you on how to work the Board. I believe I mentioned giving you one or two interns in the next batch to work with."

Leo groaned inwardly, he'd forgotten he was going to be training some people this round. He wasn't sure he was going to enjoy this but he offered a friendly nod. The young woman smiled and stood up to take his hand.

"Hello," she greeted cheerfully, flashing a bright smile.

Nathan remained seated, staring at Leo with a dark frown as Marina chattered a quiet greeting. They shook hands briefly and she smiled at him. As Leo was greeting Marina he froze at Nathan's first words.

"You didn't tell us he was a _mutant_ ," Nathan said stiffly, "I won't work with an animal."

Leo froze, eyes widening in shock before frowning and straightening up. Marina tensed beside Leo her cheeks darkening with a blush at Nathan's harsh words. The Chief frowned and cleared his throat.

"Mr. Brown, Leo is one of my most trusted members of the staff, you will work with him and you will respect him if you ever want to help with a surgery," The Chief stated firmly.

Nathan scoffed then looked Leo over with a dark look. Leo dipped his head respectfully and gestured a greeting to Nathan, hoping that if he was friendly it would help. He couldn't have been more wrong. Nathan seemed to pause, eyes widening in realization.

"It can't even fucking talk?" Nathan snarled, leaping to his feet and jerking back from Leo and Marina.

Marina seemed more than a little flustered but gave Leo a comforting look.

"Nathan I don't think-" she started.

"It's not even a nurse or a surgeon…it's a freaking aide. What the hell is it supposed to teach me?" Nathan snarled, "Just because it can walk upright and sign doesn't make it less than an animal."

Leo's cheeks darkened with a blush and his hand tightened around his cane in flustered embarrassment. Marina flushed too her eyes widening in shock at Nathan's harsh tone. The Chief straightened up and seemed to be suppressing his anger.

"Nathan really? You were just talking about how your mother is deaf," Marina sputtered, "Does the fact that she can't speak and uses sign language make her an animal?"

Nathan froze before lunging forward with an anger that was raw and primal. Leo jerked Marina behind him and turned to take the blunt of the impact with Nathan. Marina gave a panicked cry and tumbled to the floor. Leo grunted in pain as Nathan collided with him and sent him nearly to the ground.

"Don't you _ever_ compare my mother to a damn mutant bitch!" Nathan snarled, forcibly shoving Leo who stumbled and would have gone down if he hadn't managed to steady himself.

Marina grabbed Leo's legs in an attempt to steady him but Leo had already recovered and was partially crouched his cane held like out in front of him in a blocking position, his fingers clenched over the top and a faint glint of silvery steel between the top of the cane and the lower portion as it was pulled ever so slightly apart.

The Chief jumped forward and grabbed Nathan by the arm before throwing him back. Nathan tripped as he staggered backwards and fell after tripping over his own feet.

"That is _enough_!" the Chief roared.

No one moved.

Leo was shaking his bad leg trembling and on the verge of buckling. Marina hadn't moved her hands from his legs in a bracing position, her eyes wide with shock and fear. Nathan remained on the ground and the Chief stood between the Leo and Nathan.

"Leo, Marina, you are both excused. Marina I would like you to spend the day with Leo and get to know both him and the programs he's developed for the hospital," the Chief stated firmly.

Leo glanced at the Chief who nodded to him and only then did Leo relax and move to lean onto his cane. Marina was trembling obviously shaken by Nathan's outburst. Leo turned slightly and smiled down at her. Her eyes widened even more at the sight of the scars peeking out from under his scarf which had fallen out of place. Leo's scars around his face and neck were livid and raw for some reason they had never faded against his skin. Marina paused before pulling a hand away to gesture to her mouth. Leo blinked then moved a hand up to his own, blushed, then quickly adjusted the scarf to hide the scars once more. Marina released her grip on Leo's calves allowing him to turn. Leo braced himself and leaned into his cane ignoring the sharp shooting pains it caused and offered his hand to help her up. She sat up and took his offered hand eyes widening a little as he seemed to help her stand without any real difficulty.

"You're stronger than you look," she laughed as he helped her up.

Leo grunted in response before limping away from her a step or two. Once Marina had recovered she glanced over at Nathan and the Chief before stepping towards the door. Leo glanced back before following Marina out. Internally Leo was shaking like a leaf and struggling to hold off the talons of an anxiety attack but externally he seemed as calm as he had been famous for in his youth. Marina walked silently beside Leo as he limped down the hall once they left the office.

"So," Marina started, glancing at Leo as he moved down the hall, "I'm guessing those scars are the reason you can't speak?"

She was obviously trying to start up a conversation while leaving the unpleasant situation behind them. Leo stumbled, the pain from the collision with Nathan coupled with the earlier collision with Donatello was beginning to become unbearable. Leo leaned against the wall and shuddered, the combination of the pain and threatening anxiety attack was causing the onset of a flashback. Leo fumbled around for his pager sending an SOS to Shelly.

"Leo?" Marina asked nervously, reaching out to touch his arm.

Leo jerked away, hit the wall, and dropped to his knees. Leo gasped eyes widening before he curled in on himself.

 _The taste of gasoline as it was splashed across him, fire rippling across his frame, burning and eating through his skin, screaming in agony, the smell of scorched skin and burning keratin, and the taste of bile._

 _Laughter._

 _Hideous laughter._

 _The sight of people watching him burn and the brutal attack as he tried to crawl away sent him to the ground. He choked and screamed as he rolled to try and put out the flames that consumed his skin._

" _Please…please let me go…please…" he pleaded as loud as he could, "Make it stop! Make it stop! PLEASE!"_

 _He couldn't stop screaming until they jerked his head back and the taste of a cold blade forever silenced him._

 _It was worse than the burning and the shame of his injuries was too much to bear._

Leo choked and gasped, barely managing to move his scarf way before vomit forced its way up from his stomach. His vison blurred and darkened immediately afterward.

"Oh my gosh," Marina sputtered as Leo shuddered and retched before slumping limp against the wall.

Leo was trembling uncontrollably as he struggled to pull out of the flashback.

Marina knelt avoiding the vomit and tried to calm Leo down.

"Anxiety attack I think," Marina managed to sputter, "Leo? Leo can you breathe for me? Can you hear me?"

Leo was shaking uncontrollably, curled as tightly as he could manage, and choking with each breath as if his throat was trying to close in on itself. Marina acted quickly, trying to get Leo to sit properly then helped him put his head against his knees.

"Breathe, its okay," she soothed, then observed softly, "My goodness you're shaking like a leaf."

Leo was slowly starting to calm down, just managing to pull out of the flashback but was yet unable to calm the twisting in his gut that accompanied the anxiety. Leo closed his eyes and swallowed nervously starting to lift his head from where it was resting on his knees. Marina stopped him with a gentle hand while she made a soothing noise.

"Just stay there, you'll be alright. Keep breathing okay?" she coaxed.

Leo gave a shaky nod, thankful that she couldn't see the tears that were streaming down his cheeks, or hear the suppressed sobs catching in this throat. Although the trembling across his whole body had slowed his hands were still shaking a great deal.

Shelly was running frantically down the hall when she saw Marina sitting with Leo against the wall. Haniel was with Shelly and he gasped when he saw Leo's body against the wall. Leo was horribly pale and slumped over as if in pain.

"What happened?" Shelly demanded as she got close before darting around to Leo's other side, "Leo?"

Leo shook his head still too shaken to respond as Shelly knelt and tried to look him over. Leo managed to gently push her away struggling to hide his face and hold back the tears.

"I think he had a panic attack," Marina offered, "Nathan sorta freaked out when he learned that we were supposed to be working with um…a…well he attacked me for saying something and Leo tried to protect me."

Marina paused as if not wanting to finish before gently touching Leo's shoulder.

Shelly closed her eyes.

"I'm guessing he didn't like the idea of working with a mutant?" Shelly whispered, rubbing a hand soothingly against Leo's arm, "Oh Leo…did you have a flashback?"

Leo let a sob slip but managed to nod continuing to tremble under their hands. Shelly's heart dropped into her stomach. It seemed Leo's day was destined to be a bad one.

"Flashback?" Haniel asked softly.

"Ten years ago Leo was nearly killed by a group of anti-mutant extremists," Shelly whispered, "He's never completely recovered from the attack and certain things still bring up dark memories."

Marina closed her eyes before doing something that seemed to surprise even her. She leaned forward and wrapped Leo in a hug. Leo tensed then relaxed into her embrace. Haniel sighed sadly and then blinked when he saw the silver scarf Leo had been wearing earlier on the ground. Haniel stepped over to it and gently picked it up before turning back to Leo and handing it off to Shelly to take. Shelly mouthed a thank you before rubbing Leo's back.

"I'll get stuff to clean this up," Haniel offered before quickly dashing off to gather the needed materials allowing the girls to help Leo calm down.

By the time Haniel returned, Leo was sitting up and wearing the returned scarf, looking a lot less pale than he had been before. Haniel quickly cleaned up the vomit to which Leo avoided eye contact the entire time obviously embarrassed. Haniel flashed him a smile as he finished cleaning up. As he stood he chuckled a little before waiting for Leo to glance his way, once he did, Haniel spoke.

"You know the last major test I had to take I got so stressed out and scared over it I made myself so sick I ended up having to postpone my final exam because I threw up on my professor," Haniel chuckled, "God I was embarrassed but oddly enough I felt better afterward; turned out it helped calm me down."

Leo smiled and then laughed weakly in response. Both Marina and Shelly laughed softly as well.

Leo signed out "thank you" and seemed to relax before sighing heavily.

Marina smiled.

"You okay? I'm sorry Nathan was such a jerk," she inquired.

Leo nodded then looked around for the small tablet attached to the belt on his hip. He typed out something on it.

"Dark memories, things I'd rather forget," an electronic voice rattled off for him, "I'm sorry."

"That's cool," Haniel stated softly, "Also don't be sorry. Panic attacks are hell man and adding a flashback to that I can't imagine."

Leo smiled shyly the smile just barely visible behind his scarf. Shelly held back a knowing grin at Leo's shy response and Marina chuckled softly.

"Well, I would like to learn about that program the Chief was talking about," Marina stated, standing up and offering Leo a hand, "You feeling up for showing me?"

Leo blinked up at her before nodding, his confidence slowly returning, he quickly put the small tablet away before reaching out for his cane. Marina braced herself and smiled when Leo took her hand. Leo braced his cane before allowing Marina and Shelly to help him up to his feet. Haniel watched patiently before stepping forward to grip Leo's upper arm and lifting enough to help him the rest of the way to his feet. Once on his feet Leo sighed heavily giving them all a thankful look. They all seemed to pause before making a move to step away.

"Well," Shelly stated finally, "How about we meet up for lunch?

"Sounds good to me," Marina replied, glancing at Leo who nodded.

Haniel flashed Leo a broad grin and winked to which Leo was thankful for the scarf hiding the faint blush that tinted his cheeks in response.

"Alright, let's meet up in the cafeteria around three," Shelly stated, then gave Leo a stern look, "Stay out of trouble."

Leo snorted in reply. Then the quartet slipped away each to their own devices for the day. Marina ended up sitting beside Leo at his desk, reading the manual he'd written on his tablet as he dealt with the daily turmoil that came with managing the ever changing Board. Haniel and Shelly ran circles around their responsibilities chasing down surgeons or caring for those under their charge. Nathan was given one more chance to redeem himself and was forced to work on changing bedpans most of the day. By the time lunch rolled around Nathan was sitting at a table with a handful of other interns complaining loudly and often about the demotion he had received due to his actions regarding Leo.

"Seriously, I got screamed at because I didn't want to work with a damn mutant that can't even speak," Nathan was complaining, sitting backwards on a chair as he ate, "Fucking bed pan duty."

"Ouch man, that's rough," another man at the table stated with a wince.

"Wow well maybe if you get through this they'll let you actually start actual work," a girl stated, "I mean you _did_ want to do neurosurgery. Hopefully they'll let you."

Donatello was walking by and paused, frowning slightly as he overheard the conversation. He turned and gave Nathan a curious look.

"What is your name?" he inquired sternly, braced for a verbal attack but hoping to instill something close to respect.

Nathan turned and then sneered at Donatello when he saw him then paused when he saw the maroon scrubs of a surgeon that Donatello was wearing.

"They're letting freaks be surgeons?" Nathan laughed.

Donatello raised an eye ridge before replying.

"This _freak_ is in charge of all neurosurgery interns so watch your tone," Donatello replied sternly, "If you want to get into any surgery you'll be careful with that talk. As of now, you won't be working on any surgeries in this field. _Any_ of you."

There was a stunned silence at the table before Nathan rose to his feet with clenched fists.

"You!" he hissed, "you…"

"I wouldn't finish that," Donatello warned, his coffee brown eyes darkening to nearly black.

At the edge of the cafeteria Leo stood with Marina at his side watching the exchange curiously. Nathan finally seemed to back down and Donatello continued on his way to find an empty table to sit at. Leo watched Donatello with twisting emotions as Shelly walked up beside him with Haniel. She too had seen the exchange and cocked a hip before giving Leo a curious look.

"He seemed nice before he nearly ran you over earlier," she offered, "Looks like he's got a lot of courage too. I think he said something about wanting to adjust his schedule but I'm guessing he hasn't approached you since this morning."

Leo shook his head and frowned. Martha called from where she had reserved a table and Shelly waved before starting to head that way with Haniel and Marina in tow. Leo remained where he was watching Donatello eat alone.

Fear twisted in his gut and left him trembling but after a moment he walked towards the far table. Leo sucked in a deep breath just as he reached the table and placed his tray down before pulling out a seat and sitting. Donatello blinked in surprise and gasped before sitting up straight.

"You-" Donatello started, "I'm sorry about-"

Leo put a hand up in a silencing motion then pointed to his food as if to suggest he wanted to eat in peace. Donatello paused started to say something else and then returned to eating. As he ate he watched this unknown mutant for signs that he might possibly be his elder brother. At moments he could almost see him. The tilt of the head, the way he held the utensils, even the way his shoulders were set. But at other moments major things screamed stranger. The way he moved, the set of the jaw as he chewed, the hunched posture as if expecting an attack was imminent, even the odd way of never making eye contact.

This was not Leonardo.

Donatello felt an odd sort of relief mixed with intense sorrow. He gave this "Leo" a nervous look suddenly unsure as to how to respond to his approach. He blinked in surprise as he noticed that Leo was typing out something on a small tablet.

"Do you know sign language?" an electronic voice asked as Leo gave him a curious look.

"Uh, no actually," Donatello replied, "Sorry."

"Expected," came the electronic reply, then, "I heard you had plans this evening and needed to switch your main surgery around."

Donatello blinked and then nodded.

"Um yes if possible," Donatello replied, "I just got in town yesterday and some friends wanted to do dinner before my week really got started. I'd hate to cancel on them."

Leo nodded as he took a bite to eat. He didn't reply right away because part of him was aching to see if Donatello really had recognized him. But he didn't want to risk more painful memories being stirred up. Leo sat back for a moment giving Donatello a wary look before typing out a reply.

"Convince me," the electronic voice, "The surgery is important but the ones in earlier time slots are more serious."

Donatello also sat back before crossing his arms over his chest and watching this "Leo" curiously. He mused over how similar this mutant was to Leonardo with a pained interest. The stern yet wary look "Leo" was giving him was _almost_ the kind of look Leonardo would've given him when they were younger. It was an eerie feeling and caused Donatello to be washed in waves of sorrow tinged guilt. Leonardo's disappearance ten years ago had caused more than a few screaming fights and broken hearts and Donatello half wished he could be the person to say he'd finally found his brother. After all none of them had really tried to stop Leonardo from leaving it would be nice if somehow he could be found and brought home. But just like Splinter claimed it seemed that Leonardo truly must have passed away.

"Well, the surgery will take a few hours but is relatively quick compared to the previous surgeries, the chances of this particular surgery being completed quickly and without issue is much higher than that of the ones before the scheduled time. If you were to place my surgery before one of the others the room could be opened ahead of schedule allowing some extra time in the more complex surgery rather than worrying about that surgery going long," Donatello pointed out.

Leo cocked his head and nodded thoughtfully. Meanwhile Shelly, Marina, Martha, and Haniel watched from their table all chattering quietly. Marina paused mid-sentence and squealed happily after spotting a figure walking towards her.

"Mikey!" she gasped darting up and over to an approaching turtle mutant.

He was lean and wearing khaki pants with a dark polo and ID tag that read _Social Services_ above his name. He grinned as Marina jumped into a hug, his blue eyes dancing happily.

"Hey chica," he greeted, "How's your first day going?"

"Pretty good actually," she replied, "My boss is pretty awesome and I've managed to make a few friends. I've also realized there must be more turtle mutants than I previously thought."

Michaelangelo laughed at that before replying.

"Oh why's that?" he chuckled, winking at the girls at the table after nodding to Haniel.

Shelly chuckled.

"Well I'd have to agree I've met now two new turtle mutants today," Shelly laughed, "The only one I knew before now was my best friend. He's over there talking to one of the new surgeons. I think they are working out some sort of scheduling issue."

Michaelangelo turned to look where she was pointing and gasped his jaw going slack as he went slightly pale.

"No way," he breathed before gently pulling away from Marina to start walking over.

"What just happened?" Haniel asked curiously.

Marina shrugged before giving the retreating figure an odd look. Leo stood before Michaelangelo even got close, nodded to Donatello and moved to leave the area without glancing in Michaelangelo's direction. Fate would have it that Leos' blind eye was directed towards the younger turtle.

"Donnie?" Michaelangelo asked as he approached stopping at the table, "Was that…was that-?"

Donatello looked up and then grinned at Michaelangelo.

"Mikey!" he gasped before jumping up and embracing him, "Long time no see."

"Donnie _was that_ Leo?" Michaelangelo begged, "Please tell me."

Donatello seemed to wilt and shook his head which caused Michaelangelo to sag as well.

"I thought so too but it doesn't seem like it," Donatello sighed, "But it's good to see you. Were you going to April and Casey's tonight?"

Leo had now noticed Michaelangelo and nearly bolted from the area in panic. Two of his younger brothers in one day; it seemed that fate was playing games with him.

Leo closed his eyes before quickly moving out into the hall, leaning heavily on his cane with a sad sigh.

He wasn't ready to approach them and he _knew_ if Michaelangelo got a good look at him…he'd know. For now he'd managed to convince Donatello that he wasn't his brother but Michaelangelo.

He would never be able to fool him.

 **A/N: Oh look an update! Also if you didn't notice we have the official cover image for this fic now! Wooo! Artwork was a gift from my friend Copperhaven on Deviantart go check out their artwork! Please leave a review.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the TMNT but Shelly and other side characters used in this fic are owned solely by myself.

 **Note:** I base my writings off of the Classic TMNT comics and/or 2k3 Cartoon series. Any reference to something being wrong that has to do with the Classic toons or 2k12/Nickelodeon series will be ignored.

 **For those of you who read the** _ **What We Hide**_ **series, here at last is the alternate storyline. This was the original storyline for** _ **What We Hide**_ **but was scrapped due to how dark it was. This is not a happy story, it is dark, twisted, and explores a side of Leo not usually mentioned. Tony will make a short appearance but not in the way you will expect. Sit back, buckle up, and get ready for the darkest story I've ever written; a story of loss, revenge, and brutality unlike any other.**

 _"Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides." -Junichiro Tanizaki_

 **Chapter 3**

Donatello stood beside Michaelangelo and gave his younger brother a curious look over. He hadn't seen Michaelangelo in almost seven years. The youngest Hamato looked remarkably well; his baby blue eyes still sparkled with mischief, but they held a haunted look in their depths, which caused Donatello to frown slightly in concern. He reached over and flicked the ID tag on the lanyard around Michaelangelo's neck.

"Social Services?" Donatello inquired, giving his younger brother a curious look.

"Child Protective Services Division," Michaelangelo elaborated, giving a slight shrug, "I wanted to be able to help out kids."

Donatello nodded and offered a smile along with a chuckle.

"It fits you," Donatello stated, "You look good. Have things been okay?"

Michaelangelo sighed as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, actually," he chuckled before continuing, "I actually came to check on Raph's fiancée for him since he hasn't had a chance to get away from work all day. Speaking of which, she's going to kick my ass for ignoring her."

Donatello let out a snort of laughter as Michaelangelo palmed his face and slowly turned towards where Marina was watching him with a humored smile. Shelly, Martha, and Haniel all chuckled as Michaelangelo turned then waved awkwardly at Marina. Marina stuck her tongue out at him in response, which caused Donatello to chuckle.

"Raph is engaged?" Donatello asked, looking rather startled by this revelation.

"Yeah, about time, too. Those two have been dating for years," Michaelangelo chuckled, "They've been together since before…"

He stopped. He didn't need to finish that sentence for Donatello to know what he meant.

Since before Leonardo had disappeared.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Donatello cleared his throat and offered Michaelangelo a grin.

"Are you going to introduce me to her at least?" he teased, "I've got to meet the woman who managed to tame Raphael into getting married."

Michaelangelo gave a short bark of laughter and shook his head before waving for Donatello to follow. Donatello followed after clearing away the remains of his meal and picking up his files.

Shelly was snickering softly as Michaelangelo rejoined them with Donatello in tow; Marina had sat down and was picking through her food. Michaelangelo cleared his throat and awkwardly waited for Marina to acknowledge him. Haniel was snickering softly beside Shelly.

"No, you're in trouble! I'm telling Raph you abandoned me for a random stranger," Marina stated with her back to Michaelangelo.

Shelly was trying her hardest not to laugh as Marina ignored the younger turtle. Haniel continued eating as he chuckled over the exchange.

"Awh, come on, Marina, he's not a stranger. It's my brother Donnie," Michaelangelo pleaded, "I haven't seen the nerd in years."

Donatello frowned and gave his younger brother an annoyed look but was ignored by the youngest Hamato.

"Nerd?" Shelly asked, fighting the laughter that bubbled up at Donatello's frown in response to his brother's comment.

Marina took a bite from the sandwich she was eating in an attempt to quell her laughter. Haniel snorted and nearly spewed his drink across the table. But Martha wasn't so subtle; she cracked up laughing, nearly choking on her food.

"Mikey… really?" Donatello sighed, as Shelly and Marina both started giggling, "Thanks for that."

Michaelangelo gave his brother a confused look, to which the elder Hamato simple glared. Haniel was shaking his head as he grinned.

"What?" Michaelangelo inquired, obviously oblivious to the embarrassment of his older brother.

The girls at the table giggled even harder, which caused Michaelangelo to look at them, then back at Donatello. Haniel and Martha exchanged a look before dissolving into barely contained laughter.

"Nothing, Mike… just… forget it," Donatello sighed, then attempted to steer the conversation away from himself, "Are you guys going to be at April and Casey's tonight?"

Marina perked up and grinned, turning to finally look at Donatello, blinking slightly in surprise at the resemblance between the two brothers, and oddly to her boss, Leo. A small seed of suspicious curiosity was planted then, and she made a note to ask Shelly about Leo's past later.

Donatello's skin was more olive while Michaelangelo's was more true green, but both had the same freckling across their faces. Although Michaelangelo was obviously built on more slender lines, his frame leaner and closer to her boss Leo's frame, while Donatello seemed to be built on a thicker frame. Not fat, but stout and solid, obviously built to handle anything thrown at him physically. Her mind briefly returned to her boss Leo and his scars. She wondered what the whole story was behind them. She pulled herself from her thoughts and gave Donatello a smile.

"I will, but Raph won't. He's working this week, I think they're making him ride along with a few officers to try and make friends before he officially starts on the case they've assigned him,"

Donatello snorted at the mention of Raphael making friends, then after a moment of curious thought...

"What case is he on?" Donatello inquired.

Marina shuddered before looking down at her plate.

"The Angel Taker case," she whispered.

The table fell silent and Shelly shivered while Martha took a deep breath. The Angel Taker had only recently been discovered, after one of his victims had been found in a graveyard half-buried. They had learned later that the killer had been interrupted and had fled. He was named the Angel Taker after the boy's shoulder blades and back showed vicious cuts in the shape of stylized angel wings. So far that was all they knew, aside from some increasingly obvious kidnappings of boys between the ages of thirteen and seventeen without any ransom notes. The case was mostly guess work at this point as, more often than not, the boys who were taken never turned up again, and the killer seemed to enjoy taunting those working on finding them. As of late, red, stylized angel wings on white cards were being placed in the mailboxes of the families with missing children.

"Oh, please tell me they caught that monster," Martha whispered after a moment, "I've got a son at home, and I get scared just letting him walk down the block to and from the bus every day."

Haniel looked a little pale at the mention of the name. No one liked to talk about this particular killer, mostly because no one knew for sure what the killer was after. The ages of the boys taken ranged a great deal, and no one knew for sure if the killer would start taking older or even younger boys. It was Michaelangelo who finally broke the nervous silence.

"Well, um... I've got to go tell Raph that you are okay, and I have to get back to work, actually," Michaelangelo chuckled, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

His words seemed to help snap everyone out of the uncomfortable silence and spurn them into action. Marina got up and hugged him goodbye before jumping as her pager went off.

"Sorry, I've gotta go. My boss is wondering where I am," Marina laughed weakly.

Donatello jumped as well, muttering slightly in annoyance as his pager went off.

"Shit, I've got to go. Something is wrong with my patient," Donatello stated before quickly exiting the area in a running walk.

Shelly watched him go as she stood, but Haniel remained seated, attempting to finish his meal.

"Well, we should get going, too. Nice to meet you…um…Mikey, was it?" Shelly stated as she noticed Michaelangelo hadn't quite left.

Michaelangelo nodded and smiled.

"Haniel, come on. We've got to go do rounds," Shelly stated.

"But I'm not done-" the man protested, giving a startled squeak as Shelly took his tray along with her own.

"Get used to it - long hours, not much food... let's go, my minion," Shelly called behind her.

Haniel frowned and Michaelangelo laughed.

"I am not your minion," Haniel grumbled as he got up, offering Michaelangelo a polite wave in farewell.

"You are my intern; therefore, you are my minion," Shelly replied with a grin as Haniel caught up to her. He only sighed in response.

Michaelangelo chuckled before heading out; as he left, he spotted the turtle mutant Donatello had been speaking to as he left, he spotted the turtle mutant Donatello had been speaking to and Marina was standing beside him, and Marina was standing beside him. Michaelangelo stared long and hard at the mutant. There were definitely similarities - a lot of them. At the same time, though, the mannerisms and body language were all wrong. With a shake of his head, Michaelangelo walked away. Still, he couldn't shake the nagging feeling in his gut that he should've approached the mutant. He couldn't help but wonder that after everything that had led to Leonardo's disappearance, would he have changed so much? Could his older brother have ultimately become someone else? It was, of course, possible that the trauma he'd experienced and the harsh way each of them had responded most likely had shattered what was left of their elder brother. The way they had reacted before, understanding the full story was inexcusable and not looking for him afterward, was nothing short of cruelty. Michaelangelo closed his eyes and shuddered. They had left Leonardo, in all senses of the words, to the wolves, and by the time they realized their mistake, it had been too late; he was gone. They were left with only Leonardo's journal and the shocking revelations it held to lull them to sleep at night. Michaelangelo couldn't help but cringe, remembering the evening he had found the journal and the blood soaked sheets on his brother's bed. They had assumed that Leonardo had taken his life and Splinter hadn't wanted to search for the body, but part of them never gave up hope that Leonardo had found the strength to keep going. Michaelangelo shook his head trying to clear the dark and painful thoughts. His phone went off just as he was leaving the hospital's front entrance, and he flipped it open after fishing it from his pocket.

"Hello?" he sighed, wincing when he heard his voice; then, after clearing his throat, "This is Michaelangelo."

"Geeze, Mike, what happened? Did Marina kick your ass or something?" Raphael asked from the other line.

Michaelangelo chuckled roughly, tucking the phone between his shoulder and ear slit as he tried to wave down a cab.

"No, just… a crazy day," he replied. Then, "So you're stuck at work tonight?"

"Yup, although I managed to convince them to let me slip out for a few hours if things stay quiet tonight, or I can try to swing over during my dinner break so I can at least say hello, but that's not set in stone, of course," Raphael sighed. "How was Marina?"

There was a pause in the conversation as Michaelangelo managed to hail a cab, got into it and then gave the address, before returning to the conversation.

"Busy, but she seemed okay. Hey, guess who I ran into while I was there," Michaelangelo said with a grin, "Donnie, dude!"

"Seriously? Damn, small world," Raphael chuckled, then paused as someone was talking to him before replying, "Mike, I gotta go. Thanks for checking on Marina for me. They want me to shadow another Detective for a few hours."

"C'ya," Mike replied just before the call ended; then, after hanging up, "You're keeping busy, at least."

He sighed before sitting back against the seat until the cab stopped; he paid and then climbed out before jogging into the building. The rest of his day was relatively uneventful, as he spent most of his time looking over cases ranging from neglect to abuse to things even worse. It wasn't until well into afternoon that he was interrupted by a soft chuckle as he looked over a recent case file while taking notes. He jumped nearly out of his seat and grabbed the stapler on his desk out of reflex before preparing to throw it as he started to stand.

"Woah, it's me, easy," a woman laughed, holding up her hands in defense, "Your boss said you were still back here."

Michaelangelo sighed and smiled when he saw her and she smiled back. She wasn't tall but average height, slender, and she was wearing an outfit that could only be described as semi-professional with a punk flair. Her black hair had a slight purple tint when the light hit it just right and was in a pixie cut that showed off some impressive piercings on her ears.

"Angel," he greeted as he sat back in the chair, "It's good to see you, babe."

"Rough day?" she inquired with a smirk as he rubbed a hand across his face tiredly.

Michaelangelo looked tired, drained, and a bit sad.

"Yeah, actually, this case I just got… it breaks my heart," he sighed sadly, "but I am looking forward to seeing April and Casey again after nearly ten years. Oh, and Donnie is supposed to be there."

Angel grinned at that revelation.

"Oh, awesome! April said we might get to see him," she replied, "I wonder if that was the surprise she was talking about."

Michaelangelo snorted in humor at the thought.

"Then she failed because I told Raph about it," he chuckled as he stood, "Although she probably never could've predicted that I'd run into him when I checked on Marina earlier."

Angel smiled and shook her head as Michaelangelo quickly put his files away and locked the drawers they were stored in.

"How is Marina getting out of her shift tonight to visit with all of us? Raph, too, for that matter," Angel asked while Michaelangelo gave one last look around his office area to make sure he hadn't left anything out.

"Raph most likely won't make it tonight, unless he manages to swing over during his break, and Marina had made the agreement with the Chief of Surgery about getting to leave for a couple of hours the first night of her internship, since we all just started getting moved in and had to work right away," Michaelangelo replied as they left the office and headed down the hallway, "She won't be there long, probably will just stop by to grab dinner and say hello."

Angel nodded and offered a smile before grabbing his arm and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"So do you think Casey will flip when he finds out we are dating?" she teased.

"He's going to kick my ass," Michaelangelo groaned before palming his face.

Angel burst out laughing in response.

Back at the hospital, Shelly was helping Donatello through one of the last scheduled surgeries of his day, with Haniel observing. Donatello was quietly working on securing the damaged vein he was trying to repair as Shelly held the next tool he would need beside him in one hand and gauze in the other. There was a moment of tension before he managed to secure it then carefully began the repair. Once the repair was done, Donatello quickly stepped back to allow those that needed to finish up in to do their work. He left quickly to begin preparing for his final surgery for the day, which was in only a few minutes. As the patient was cleared to leave, Shelly followed with the patient's chart, making notes as to how the surgery had gone, with Haniel trailing behind.

"You've been quiet," Shelly stated as Haniel guided the gurney through the hallway after her.

"Uh, it's nothing, really. Just curious about something," Haniel replied.

"What would that be?" Shelly asked, giving Haniel an annoyed frown, "If you have questions ask them. I don't like interns who don't ask questions."

"It's not really about… well it's sorta… well," he paused, as if trying to decide how to continue, "It's about Leo."

"No, I will not tell you how he got his scars, nor why he had a panic attack earlier. It's not my place to give out those kinds of details," she stated firmly before stepping aside to allow Haniel to guide the gurney into the elevator.

After Haniel managed to move into the space and quickly check over the patient, he glanced over at Shelly, who was reading the chart again.

"Well, it was more along the lines of whether or not I imagined him flirting back earlier," Haniel mumbled with a slight blush.

Shelly tensed and resisted a smile. She, too, had noticed that Leo had flirted back earlier and she had been meaning to bring it up with Leo later. Leo's approach to relationships over the past nine years that she had known him had been pretty much nonexistent. He didn't seem to want to get involved with anyone, most likely over the fact that he was still, in his heart, loyal to Tony. Shelly closed her eyes before sighing and waited for the elevator door to open on their needed floor. Once it did, she stepped out and held the door open.

"Take the patient to room 305 and place his chart on the end of his bed, then please go pick up the new batch of files at the Hub for our next set of rounds and meet me at the nurse's station on this floor," she instructed.

Haniel winced, inwardly cursing the fact that he had asked the question aloud, but he took the offered chart and moved the gurney out into the hall. There was silence between them.

"Yes, ma'am," he stated as he started to walk away with the patient.

Just as he was starting to get a decent distance away, Shelly groaned, turned back towards him, and cleared her throat.

"And Haniel," Shelly stated, which caused the man to stop and turn. "He likes sushi."

She walked away after that without another word, personally wondering if she should have given Haniel the nudge. Haniel blinked in surprise, then smiled slowly before continuing on his way. Though now slightly nervous, he quickly made sure the patient was hooked up to the required monitors and slipped out of the room before quickly making his way towards the Hub before he lost his nerve. As Haniel approached the Hub to pick up a few new files for the next rounds, he spotted Leo at his desk, sorting through a stack of patient files and typing in the information as he read. Marian was sitting beside him, flipping through what looked like a makeshift manual for the system Leo had created. Haniel leaned against the counter beside Leo and waited for the nurse in charge of the files to hand over the ones he was looking for. As he signed off for the files and quickly flipped through them, he awkwardly cleared his throat hoping to get Leo's attention. Leo glanced up briefly then went back to working on things after nodding hello. Marina glanced up and offered a smile to Haniel, who awkwardly smiled back before glancing at Leo and coughing.

"So, um… I heard you like sushi?" Haniel asked softly. "I was wondering if you knew any good local places to go? Figured we could maybe go together some time?"

Marina slowly grinned when she realized what was happening and stifled a giggle as Leo continued working. Haniel didn't seem to know how to respond. Marina went back to reading the manual and watching over the top with a grin and suppressed giggles. Leo was either oblivious or ignoring him; it was looking increasingly like the former. Haniel shuffled the files he was holding, glancing awkwardly at the nurses that were chuckling off to the side, then cleared his throat again. Leo glanced up again and Haniel smiled as they made eye contact.

"So, um know any good sushi places?" he asked awkwardly.

Leo stared, blinked, then straightened up with a slight blush. He glanced around him, then awkwardly tapped his chest to indicate that he was trying to clarify that Haniel was speaking to him. When Haniel nodded, Leo's blush deepened slightly, and he coughed before looking away. There was an awkward silence as Haniel began to worry that he had offended the mutant and misunderstood their earlier exchange as flirting. Leo awkwardly coughed again before shifting in his seat and returning eye contact. Marina gently gave Leo a friendly nudge with her foot, and one of the curious nurses watching the exchange smiled as Leo jumped slightly in response.

"I heard there is a nice place just up the street, actually," she offered, giving Leo a moment to collect himself.

Haniel gave her a nervous smile in reply, then offered her a thankful nod.

"Oh, thanks. I'll, uh, have to check it out, then." He made a move to leave, quickly shuffling the patient files and starting to step away. "I'll, um... let you get back to work."

Leo remained frozen in his seat, still blushing for a moment, then jumped up, nearly knocking over the computer monitor on his desk in the process. Then, with a flustered motion, he sat back down as he caught the monitor and frantically steadied it. He was, perhaps, blushing worse than before and wasn't making eye contact anymore. Haniel had stopped and was holding back a chuckle for fear of embarrassing the mutant further, but he waited patiently for Leo to gather himself. After a moment, Leo looked up, bit his lip before looking down, then up again, and after he sighed heavily, he simply nodded. Haniel grinned, despite the fact that it seemed to only cause Leo to become more flustered.

"Awesome, uh, I'll swing back later, and we can figure out a day that works?" he offered.

Leo nodded, then looked down and started shuffling files and didn't look up again.

Marina smiled as Haniel turned to leave and saw Leo glance up after him before returning to sorting the files and entering the information.

As the next few hours passed by, it was relatively uneventful, save a small child wandering off and terrifying his mother, and a last minute patient needing a trauma surgeon stumbled into the ER muttering about fairy lights collapsed and was rushed away. Donatello's rescheduled surgery went off without a hitch and he began to prepare to leave not long after it, doing a quick set of rounds to check on his patients before locking his office and preparing to leave for the night. As Donatello was starting to walk towards the side exit of the hospital to go to April and Casey's, he paused, remembering that Marina was going to be headed that way, as well. With a quick decision, he turned heel and briskly walked towards where Marina had been all day. He found her alone at Leo's station, working on a mock-up of the program for the Board on paper, with a series of scenarios.

"Marina?" he inquired softly, "Were you still going to April and Casey's tonight? I can give you a ride if you need one."

Marina glanced up and smiled when she saw who it was.

"Oh! Actually, yes. Let me finish this last panel," she replied as she quickly wrote out the response, "Leo should be back any minute, then I can leave. I'm taking my dinner break while I'm there and an extra hour off so I can check on stuff at Raph and I's place that the Chief let me have. Hopefully that's enough time."

Donatello chuckled as he waited. Marina quickly gathered up everything she had been reading and slid it into the folder Leo had organized it in. Just as she was finishing, the sound of Leo's cane on the tile floors made both Donatello and Marina look up. Donatello offered a friendly nod and Marina waved. Leo gave Donatello an odd look before tugging at his scarf to adjust it. He made his way back into the area where his desk was and sat down without attempting communication.

"Leo, I'm off for a couple of hours. Do you want me to leave this with you?" She held out the folder with the manual in it.

Leo shook his head and signed out a reply.

Hang onto it, just don't lose it. I'll quiz you when you get back.

Then, after giving Donatello another guarded look, he signed out something else.

Why is he waiting for you? Do you trust this guy?

Marina giggled, which caused Donatello to look between Leo and Marina in complete confusion.

"What?" Donatello asked, feeling completely out of the loop. "What did he say?"

Marina shook her head before replying. Leo ignored Donatello's flustered question and waited for Marina's reply with a slight frown behind his scarf.

"I'm engaged to his brother. Since we are going to the same place, he offered me a ride," she replied soothingly.

Donatello colored slightly at the realization of what the possible question might have been, but he chose to say nothing and simply nodded. Leo eyed him before grunting, turning his chair, and getting back to work once he gave Marina a wave goodbye.

"Okay, I will hang onto this. See you when I get back," Marina replied, then with a giggle, "Stay out of trouble."

Leo sighed but waved her away again, which caused her to laugh. She darted off towards the locker rooms to gather up her things and clock out before returning a few minutes later to find Donatello still awkwardly standing next to Leo's desk while obviously being ignored.

"Ready?" Donatello asked as she jogged up to him.

When she nodded, he motioned for her to follow and headed out towards the parking lot. They made quick time by pure luck over to April and Casey's, parked, and then made their way to the side door that lead up above April's shop. After they entered, another car pulled in and parked beside Donatello's car. Another mutant turtle climbed out, Raphael, in a suit with his suit jacket off, revealing the shoulder holster he was wearing, with his gun and his badge on a chain around his neck. He glanced up at the window to April and Casey's living room, smiled wryly, and then quickly approached the door. After entering, he started up the stairs.

 **A/N: Oh look an update! Sorry for the delay on this chapter but I'm moving a bit slow lately due to working on art commissions and injuring my wrist at work. Also yes Angel as in** _ **Angel**_ **the street punk girl we loved in the 2k3 series so much is Mikey's girl. Also fun fact for my triva people: the name "Haniel" is the English variant of a name derived from Anael/Hanael which is another name for Yophiel/Iophiel/Iofiel the angel associated with beauty, love, and the planet Venus. Also guys we're still working our way through some backstory here so hang in there for the real action to get started. I will probably update this once a week from now on, most likely on Fridays, as these are huge chapters and have a lot going on. Please leave a review!**

 **Edit: Fixed some errors I missed.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the TMNT but Shelly and other side characters used in this fic are owned solely by myself.

 **Note:** I base my writings off of the Classic TMNT comics and/or 2k3 Cartoon series. Any reference to something being wrong that has to do with the Classic toons or 2k12/Nickelodeon series will be ignored.

 **For those of you who read the** _ **What We Hide**_ **series, here at last is the alternate storyline. This was the original storyline for** _ **What We Hide**_ **but was scrapped due to how dark it was. This is not a happy story, it is dark, twisted, and explores a side of Leo not usually mentioned. Tony will make a short appearance but not in the way you will expect. Sit back, buckle up, and get ready for the darkest story I've ever written; a story of loss, revenge, and brutality unlike any other.**

 _"Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides." -Junichiro Tanizaki_

 **Chapter 4**

As Raphael started his way up the stairs he heard a greeting from a voice he hadn't heard in almost ten years and a grin spread across his face.

"Hey there stranger," Donatello called down after turning to see who had entered the stairwell.

"Donnie!" he chuckled, jogging the rest of the way up to his brother.

Marina giggled softly as she saw Raphael rush his way up the stairs and approach his brother. They looked at each other for a moment as if they really were strangers, after all Raphael had been the first to leave home after Leonardo's disappearance and Donatello had been the last. There was a moment of awkward silence and it seemed like tension before they both leaned in for a hug. The hug lasted longer than either seemed to expect but they didn't seem to want to break the hug either. Raphael cleared his throat as he pulled away and Marina pretended not to notice the tears that Donatello quickly brushed away before his older brother could see.

"Missed you bro," Raph stated as he pulled away, then after seeing Marina he grinned at her, "Hey hun."

Donatello stepped aside to allow Raphael to move the rest of the way up the stairs to pull Marina into a hug. She leaned into him, standing on tiptoe to wrap her arms around his neck before giving him quick kiss in greeting. Raphael simply smiled in response and seemed to relax completely for a brief moment. Donatello smiled and kept quiet allowing the pair a chance to simply be together. He couldn't help but shake his head though, Marina was small and delicate looking against his elder brother who looked if possible more muscular than the last time he'd seen him.

"Hey yourself," she replied to Raphael after a moment of silence then with a smile she pointed up the stairs, "We should probably head up."

They heard screaming almost a moment after she spoke and with a quick glance at each other they scrambled the rest of the way up the stairs. Raph was the first one up the stairs gesturing for Marina to stay back who seemed to pout as Donatello moved to block her way too as Raphael threw the door to the apartment open while reaching for his gun and pulling it from the holster. He blinked in surprise when he saw April and Angel shrieking and bouncing up and down together with Casey giving Michaelangelo a dark frown. April and Casey's kids were watching the exchange with grins. Raphael lowered his gun and cocked his head in confusion as Donatello stepped into the room beside him. Michaelangelo was grinning despite watching Casey warily.

"Dude…seriously?" Casey sighed, "Angel's like my sister."

Michaelangelo chuckled before looking over to April and Angel who were still squealing and jumping. The kids had joined in at this point.

"Alright I'll bite...what the hell?" Raphael asked as he holstered his gun.

"Uncle Raph! Uncle Donnie!" the kids yelled when they spotted the two in the door way and waved in greeting.

Marina squeezed past the two males into the room, spotted April who was currently hugging Angel in what looked like a suffocating hug. She started laughing.

"I take it you told her?" Marina asked.

"Told her what?" Raphael and Donatello asked in unison.

Michaelangelo grinned and nodded to Marina and Angel only nodded as she hugged April back.

"Yeah we told them," Michaelangelo replied.

"He's lucky I haven't kicked his ass honestly," Casey grunted, giving Michaelangelo a dark look before nodding hello to Raphael and Donatello.

Marina rushed over to the girls and hugged Angel with a giggle. Raphael and Donatello exchanged a confused look before Raphael sighed.

"Okay someone tell me what the _fuck_ you told them already?" Raphael muttered in exasperation.

Angel laughed and pulled away from April and Marina before grinning wryly at Raphael.

"Mikey should we tell them or wait until they figure it out?" she teased.

Michaelangelo gave his brothers a broad grin, before crossing his arms and snickering.

"Well I think we can tell them," he chuckled, and then glanced back at Angel, "Do you want to or should I?"

Angel laughed before accepting a hug from Marina as April squeezed the young woman's arm. She walked over to Michaelangelo with the same grin and then leaned into him as he wrapped his arms around her one of his hands briefly touching her stomach.

"Oh I don't know…" Angel teased.

Raphael glared, crossing his arms over his chest and shooting Michaelangelo a dark look but Donatello's eyes had gone wide as he slowly grinned.

"Are you? _No way!_ Are you?" He looked from Michaelangelo then at Angel who were both grinning.

Raphael started to get annoyed then froze as he noticed where Michaelangelo's hand was.

"Shit…seriously?" he sputtered, "You two are? _Seriously?_ Angel you're…?"

He was at a loss for words, amber eyes wide with shock and mouth hanging open slightly. Donatello was laughing looking somewhat stunned at the realization.

"Pregnant, yeah," Angel laughed, "Looks like Mikey's the first to be a dad out of you guys."

Michaelangelo chuckled as Casey groaned and rolled his eyes in response.

"That's just what we need…another Mikey," Casey laughed weakly.

Everyone laughed at that as Casey lightly swatted Michaelangelo's shoulder. Angel swatted Casey back without moving from her place.

Michaelangelo just smiled in reply but eyed the man nervously. He seemed rather concerned that the unpredictable man would actually take a piece out of him.

"When the fuck were you going to tell me?" Raphael laughed before striding across the room and reaching out to hug Angel who pulled away from Michaelangelo with a weak laugh and leaned into it.

April squeaked happily and then darted into the kitchen yelling something about needing to celebrate. Marina was laughing as Shadow, April and Casey's daughter hugged her. The dark haired girl was grinning while her brother was bouncing up and down.

"I've going to have a cousin!" he was singing as he bounced around.

"We were planning on making the announcement later tonight but April figured it out," Michaelangelo chuckled.

"Angel never was one to refuse a stiff drink," April laughed.

Everyone laughed softly at that and Angel blushed putting her face into the curve of Michaelangelo's neck as she laughed softly.

"And here I though April was the one dropping some sort of surprise on the group tonight," Marina teased with a wink, "You had to jut steal her thunder didn't you?"

Angel stuck her tongue out in reply which only made everyone laugh even more. As the group collected around Mikey and Raph, Marina turned and headed towards the kitchen to see if April needed help and found her collecting wine glasses with a bottle on the counter.

"Need some help?" Marina asked as she entered the kitchen.

"Oh yes if you don't mind there is a cheesecake I was going to save for desert in the fridge will you pull it out and start cutting it for me?"

"Of course," Marina replied before moving to do the requested task.

There was a moment of silence before April tried to start a conversation.

"I'm glad you two finally decided to tie the knot," April stated, "You bring out the best in Raph, you really do. How long has it been?"

"Nearly eleven years now. We met before…and then yeah," Marina started, "I only got to meet Leo once…Raph was a mess when he disappeared. Mikey doesn't talk about him and Raph just avoids talking about what happened I think it hurts too much honestly. What was Leo like?"

"It wasn't a good point in their history," April whispered, "Mikey knows more of the story than anyone else does and like you said he doesn't like to talk about it. Leo…he was a big brother. Arrogant bastard most of the time but he didn't do it out of spite more because he just knew he was that good. He had…has…a good heart and I hope wherever he is that he's okay. I only hope he can forgive us all one day."

There was silence as both women seemed to struggle to collect themselves. Neither made any attempt to broach the subject that April still believed Leonardo was alive where Raphael obviously assumed his brother was dead as did the others for the most part. Although at times each of the brothers seemed to live on a thin thread of hope that Leonardo was in fact alive. Marina mused over this as she remembered Raphael setting out an extra plate more than once over the years on the four brothers' birthday. After Michaelangelo had moved in with them, even he went so far as to make a meal up for the missing brother. It seemed to have been an unspoken agreement to honor their lost family member.

"Raphael always mentions that, he _failed_ Leo. That he should've realized something else was wrong," Marina sighed, "I wish I knew how to talk to him about it to be honest."

April smiled at Marina before patting her hand.

"Unfortunately I don't any of us will get closure until we know what happened, but, tonight I really want to be happy so if it's okay with you, let's spoil those idiots out there," April offered as she gave herself a shake before wiping away some tears.

Marina laughed before nodding and avoiding bringing up the tears April was still blinking away.

"You're right, tonight is a happy night," she replied as she searched around for a knife to cut the cake.

April pointed out one to her before grabbing plates and pouring the drinks. There was silence again for a while and then April made a shy inquiry.

"Are you and Raph, going to try for kids?" April asked delicately, not wanting to upset the brunette if there was some sort of complication preventing the young woman from getting pregnant.

"We have been trying recently actually since we're engaged now, but we hadn't for quite a while," Marina replied back with a smile, "Mostly because Raph was on tour in Afghanistan for those first seven years."

"I don't know why but I keep forgetting he was a Marine," April sighed with a shake of her head, "How has he been since he got back? I know he was right in the middle of everything."

"He has nightmares sometimes, wakes up shaking, can't sleep other nights, but he's been adjusting really well since Mikey and Angel moved in with us about a year ago," Marina replied as she finished cutting the cheesecake April was gathering plates for, "He does better with a lot of people he cares about around. Since my schedule all over the place when he got back, having Mikey around really helped. Overall he seems okay but he has his bad days and you know Raph he hates talking about his feelings most of the time."

April laughed softly.

"Very true," she replied.

April's son rushed into the kitchen and lightly tugged on her sleeve to get her attention.

"Mom-" he started.

"James, you know I don't like it when you do that," April scolded gently.

The boy made a frustrated sound to which April leveled a stare at him until the boy hung his head.

"Sorry," he muttered.

Marina resisted a smile as she turned back to gathering up the plates with cake on them to take out onto a tray.

"Can I ask them about my training now?" the boy begged softly, "You said I could ask tonight."

"Be patient James," April chuckled, "You can ask about it after dinner."

"But-" the boy started to protest.

"Or not at all," April cut off.

The boy groaned which caused Marina to laugh as she moved to leave the kitchen with the tray to serve the others. As she entered the living room she found herself face to face with Raphael.

"Hey," she greeted.

"Hey yourself," he chuckled in reply, amber eyes glinting with a hint of mischief, "I was wondering where you had snuck off to. Need some help?"

Marina rolled her eyes at him before shaking her head. He smirked slightly in reply.

"I've got it hun, April might need some help though," she replied.

Raphael nodded before leaning over to kiss her cheek and sighing softly. They were both tired; the last few days had been hectic as they moved back into the New York area. Mikey and Angel had to be just as tired, since not one of the group had gotten a chance to catch their breath before starting at their new jobs. Marina reached up and cupped his cheek gently to which he leaned into it slightly as if taking comfort in it.

"I made reservations to the restaurant you wanted to try for Wednesday since we're both off. Figured we could have a nice evening out," he sighed tiredly.

"I'd like that," Marina whispered, straightening up to kiss his cheek, "You look tired."

Raphael rubbed a hand across his face.

"I am," he replied, "I'll be glad to have a day off."

April walked up carrying the first of a few filled wine glasses and smiled at the pair as they stood together talking softly. As she entered the living room she spotted Donatello sitting at the table with Angel and Shadow as Michaelangelo and Casey were bickering off to the side.

"Oh Casey leave him alone, they're both adults," April laughed when she saw them.

Donatello snickered softly at her comment and then nodded as she offered him a glass.

"So how have you been Donnie? You kind of disappeared for a while," April teased, squeezing his shoulder affectionately before smiling at Angel, "I did pour you a small glass I figured a sip or two wouldn't hurt if you want it."

Angel paused and then nodded.

"A sip or two should be fine but I'll share with Mikey though instead of having my own glass," Angel replied.

April nodded before handing her the small glass. Marina had entered the living room by this point with Raphael beside her holding a glass for her and shaking his head.

"I've been pretty good actually," Donatello replied, "Been keeping busy."

Donatello had been the only one to stay home with Splinter after Leonardo's disappearance, only leaving after he had been invited into the medical field a year or so later. He'd all but lost contact with everyone else after that for quite a while. April smiled at him fully intending to continue the conversation before realizing a major flaw to their celebrations.

"I'll be right back. I need to check on dinner quick!" April stated before darting back into the kitchen which caused Donatello to chuckle. Casey seemed to finally decide to stop harassing Michaelangelo at this point and was playfully teasing Angel instead.

"So Casey anything new with you?" Raphael inquired as he pulled out a chair beside Donatello.

Marina finished offering the cheesecake slices before walking over and putting herself into Raphael's lap.

"Actually yeah, something April's not to thrilled about actually," Casey chuckled.

"Don't you get me started on that!" April called from the kitchen

Both James and Shadow started laughing while the others grinned as Casey grimaced.

"Dad's in troubleeee!" James snickered only to give a little yelp as Casey snagged a hold of his son and held him in a headlock.

Everyone chuckled in response as Casey released his son after a moment.

"What kind of trouble did you get yourself into this time you maniac?" Raphael teased.

"Oh do explain it to Raphael, he _is_ a detective now," April scolded as she returned, putting her hand on the back of Donatello's chair and leaning on it slightly.

"Oh boy, this sounds good," Michaelangelo snickered wincing when he got glared at.

"Shut it chuckle head, you're still on my blacklist," Casey growled good naturedly at the youngest Hamato.

Donatello snorted in humor and Raphael attempted to hide his smile as he suppressed his laughter. Marina giggled and Angel made a fist at Casey as she stuck her tongue out at him. April only rolled her eyes.

"Alright spill," Donatello chuckled, "what kind of trouble did you get yourself into?"

"Well it's kinda a long story, you guys heard of the underground street fighting rings here in New York at all?"

Raphael frowned but nodded.

"A couple of people mentioned it at the station today," Raphael grunted, "There are a couple of major players running the shots…everyone's a bit worried that they'll collect into a gang structure and end up worse than the PDs."

"They already have started to develop along those lines," Casey sighed, "But the weird thing is the areas they patrol or host the fights have almost zero issues with crime. I decided to try and figure out what was going on."

"And snuck into one of the underground fights and nearly got killed," April grumbled.

"There are no rules in these fights," Casey stated cautiously, "I was an idiot I'll admit that for just entering a low level fight. I got paired up against a mutant that would've killed me if the ring leader of this side of town's section hadn't stepped in."

"Damn," Michaelangelo stated softly, "Did you find anything out?"

"Not really, only that anti-mutant extremists run the risk of being gutted seconds after they walk in," Casey sighed, "This section's leader is called _Ao Akuma_ and he's scary as _fuck_ man. I stuck around long enough to see him square off against a rival leader…the guy left in a body bag."

"But you got out in one piece so what's the problem?" Michaelangelo asked with a concerned frown.

"You said he's called _Ao Akuma_? Raphael asked, "That means…blue devil in Japanese…is he a mutant?"

The brothers exchanged a glance and seemed to be musing over that name. Casey shrugged.

"He's all covered up in armor and cloth wraps you can't get a good look at him," Casey replied, "But I would guess yes since the majority of this section's fighters are mutants."

"The problem is that Casey got challenged," April sighed, "By Ao Akuma himself. After hearing the horror stories about what that guy can do I'm more than a little worried about what will happen if Casey does show up for the fight."

"If I don't show up _he does_ ," Casey grunted, "The thing is old Akuma doesn't issue challenges very often…apparently it's only to people he sees as a threat which doesn't make sense as I lost my fight. But if you skip out on a fight he brings the fight to you."

"April's right, you are an idiot," Donatello sighed, "When is the fight scheduled? I can try to be there to at least put you back together after the fight since I'm assuming you won't risk anyone else getting hurt."

"Tomorrow night," Casey sighed, "I think I know how to avoid getting my ass kicked but I still risk getting roughed up _and_ I'd be banned from ever going near the fights again which means I'd never figure out what is going on in there."

Michaelangelo frowned, wrapping an arm protectively around Angel's middle as she crossed her arms under her bust.

"Okay explain this to me again…where these section leaders are in charge…crime is almost nonexistent? What exactly are they getting out of keeping the streets clean?" Angel asked looking confused. Her past attempt to join up with the Purple Dragons years ago had taught her to be wary of gang initiations and she was all too aware of the types of extortion usually associated with gangs.

"That's the thing," April started, "The homes or neighborhoods that are marked within a certain leader's section are protected but none of us have been approached about protection money."

"In fact some people that were struggling have found money on their doorsteps…although to enter a fight there is a cash fee depending on the level you're trying for," Casey added then winced when April glared at him.

"You failed to mention that," April grunted then jumped up as a timer went off in the kitchen, "Let me grab dinner then we can continue this talk. Shadow, James, finish setting the table please."

As everyone moved to seat themselves at the table Donatello ended up sitting next to Marina and Raphael with Michaelangelo and Angel across from them. Casey sighed as he sat and rubbed his hands across his face, there were creases around his blue eyes that could only be from worry and his shoulder length black hair had started to grey out. Each was musing over the issue Casey had just raised. No one wanted Casey to get hurt or arrested if the cops showed up to break up the fight but no one really seemed to have a solution for the time being aside from Donatello's promise to be there to help. Marina was searching through her purse to make sure she hadn't lost the manual her boss had given her when Donatello perked up.

"Could I look at that Marina? I'm interested to see what style of coding your boss uses," he inquired, pointing to the folder as she found it.

"Um…I don't think he'd mind, just don't get anything on them," Marina replied offering Donatello the folder.

"Donnie…really, can you wait until _after_ dinner to let your inner geek out?" Raphael groaned.

"Oh stop you know me can't resist interesting technology plus you an Marina have to head back to work right after dinner most likely," Donatello scolded, "And I'll put it away once the food is out here."

Everyone chuckled softly but Raphael who rolled his eyes at his younger brother. Donatello fell silent as he read through the coding and started to frown. Marina was the only one who noticed and gave the brainy turtle a curious look.

"Soup's on!" April called out as she entered the living room where the table was with the kids trailing after her carrying the rest of the dishes. The kids quickly sat out the sides and then glanced around before racing for a spot next to Angel. James lost. Shadow plopped into a chair beside Angel with a grin and James found a spot next to Michaelangelo while April sat the crock pot full of stew onto the middle of the table before sitting next to Casey. Donatello quickly put the files back into the folder and handed them over to Marina.

"Learn anything?" Marina teased.

"It was…very interesting," Donatello replied simply with a shrug.

Internally he was reeling in confusion mixed with shock. The majority of the coding was written exactly as he would've written it. In fact some of the code structures looked a lot like what he had written years ago. Only someone who had helped him on his projects would know those codes let alone how to write in them in his unique style. Donatello forced the thousands of questions that bubbled up to the back his mind for the time being. Because in order for Leo Lake to know those codes he would have to be the very person that he couldn't possibly be…Hamato Leonardo. And yet…what if they were the same person?

"Donnie you look like you saw a ghost or something. April's cooking isn't _that_ bad," Michaelangelo teased before yelping as three people swatted him, "Ow! I was kidding!"

Donatello snorted and offered his brother a humored smile. They all ate in relative silence as much as could be expected for a family that hadn't seen each other in years. As the dinner was winding down the surprise that April had mentioned telling them became the topic of curiosity. Everyone wanted to know what it was but she seemed hesitant to tell as of yet. Instead James made a quiet request to ask about his birthday present from his uncles; which turned out to be a desire to learn some of the basics of Ninjitsu from them. There was some awkward silence before Raphael finally agreed to start teaching James some basics later in the week if he behaved for his parents. The boy was beyond delighted and spent the rest of the dinner grinning ear to ear about it. Then as everyone finished their meals all eyes flicked towards April in curious attention but it was Angel who finally broke the silence and made the inquiry.

"April what was your surprise? You said there was something big you wanted to tell us." Angel asked as they were clearing away the dishes.

April froze before closing her eyes.

"James and Shadow please go to your rooms," April stated softly, "It's time for the adults to talk."

"No! I know it's about Uncle Leo I want to stay," Shadow cried out, crossing her arms over her chest in stubborn rebellion.

"Shadow Jones," Casey scolded as he stood, "Do as your mother says."

"I'm eighteen! I deserve to know what happened to my uncle," Shadow protested as James was ushered away by Casey.

Casey and April exchanged a look before they both sighed and nodded allowing the young woman to stay.

"But!" James cried out, "That's not fair! I'm thirteen!"

"And still a kid you don't need to end up with nightmares," Michaelangelo scolded before anyone else could, "Trust me James."

At the mention of Leo's name everyone had gone on high alert and Michaelangelo's smile had disappeared. Being the only one who knew the most about what had happened it wasn't as much of a shock to hear him be as stern as one would think. After all he was the one who had woken up screaming nights after finding Leonardo's journal. April walked over to her desk, pulled something out and then sat back at the table before Casey returned from taking James to bed. After he sat April took a deep breath.

"I got this in the mail today," April whispered, "At first I didn't believe it until I opened the package to see Leo's mask with it."

Donatello sucked in a breath, Raphael sat up straighter and seemed to shudder, while Michaelangelo squeezed his eyes shut as if bracing himself for the worst. Marina placed a comforting hand on Raphael's arm and Angel squeezed Michaelangelo's hand.

"It's not from Leo but someone who claims to be his friend," April stated softly, brushing her fingers across the page, "But this is what it says…"

 _I can't give you my name or explain how I know Leo but I wanted to let you know that he is alive._

 _Hamato Leonardo is alive._

 _He's bitter, withdrawn and still healing. I'm pretty sure he would be furious with me if he found out I wrote you but despite the anger and pain he's held onto these past ten years he misses all of you._

 _I know this because of the picture he keeps hidden under his pillow with all of you together._

 _I just don't think he is ready to forgive you all yet._

 _I just wanted to tell you he was alive; maybe soon he'll make contact, until then have hope._

"That's it," April whispered, "but…we know he's alive now."

Raphael seemed to slump into his chair his amber eyes staring unfocused into the ground beside his chair. Marina wiped away a tear as she looked at Raphael he looked so defeated and shaken. Donatello was staring at his hands as he slumped over the table but Michaelangelo had jerked to his feet and was pacing.

"He's not coming back," Donatello whispered.

"Why the hell should he," Michaelangelo spat, "After what…"

He stopped as if not sure as to whether or not he should continue.

"Mikey I think it's long overdue for you to tell us what you know," Raphael stated softly as he lifted his head to make eye contact with the youngest, "Let us carry the burden too."

Michaelangelo took a deep breath and they all watched helplessly as he seemed to fight an internal battle. None of them spoke but all eyes were on him as he struggled to find the words to either continue or to deny their request. He seemed to wilt slightly before he finally spoke.

"It would take too long to explain everything I know tonight," he finally stated through gritted teeth, "But I will tell you this…Splinter _lied_ to us about what happened to Leo that night. What happened…it wasn't his fault. He _didn't do it_."

"What do you mean _he didn't do it_ Mikey?" Raphael growled, "He was soaked!"

"Claiming that Splinter lied to us…Mikey…you have to explain. Why would, what possible reason would Splinter have to lie to us?" Donatello demanded, "You're telling us that everything Splinter told us about what happened that night _was a lie?_ "

Donatello jumped to his feet his chair clattering back and Raphael seemed to be on the verge of doing the same but only Marina's hand on his arm seemed to be holding him back.

Michaelangelo's blue eyes were dark in anger and he took a deep breath.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you Donnie and Raph…Leo was soaked because he…tried…to save…that person and couldn't," Michaelangelo whispered.

"Save them?" Raphael demanded, this time jumping to his feet, "Sensei said that-"

" _Sensei lied_ ," Michaelangelo all but shouted, "Leo didn't kill anyone in cold blood. He found someone he cared about _dead_ and we all _tore him apart for it_!"

No one moved but April had her hands over her face as she fought tears. Shadow's eyes were wide with shock and she seemed to be struggling with what she was hearing. Casey had slumped back onto his chair while Angel got up and walked over to Michaelangelo to attempt to calm him. The youngest Hamato was trembling uncontrollably as if fighting the urge to scream or cry. He pulled away as Angel placed a hand on his arm but allowed her to pull him to her after her second attempt.

"We…he…but…" Raphael struggled, "You're saying that…we…Mikey we said things…we _did_ things to Leo because of what Sensei said…are you telling me that _everything_ we…"

Donatello shook his head before stumbling back, fumbled for his chair, found it and sank into it with a soft thud.

"We chased him off while he was…" Donatello whispered.

"Grieving," Michaelangelo finished sadly, looking towards them with tears streaming down his cheeks, "He was grieving that's…that's why he was acting so erratic. That's why he was so sensitive and angry. That's why he tried to…to…"

"That's why he tried to kill himself…" Raphael finished for him.

Shadow sobbed covering her face as April reached over and pulled the young woman into her arms.

"There's more to tell…a lot more," Michaelangelo managed to choke out, "But I…I can't…not tonight…"

Everyone nodded in stunned silence each struggling with their own demons from the night Leo had fled. None of them were innocent of belittling Leonardo for the night he'd come home soaked in blood, they had all taken Splinter's story as fact, that Leo had suffered some sort of freak moment of paranoia and that he had slaughtered an innocent someone in cold blood as a result. Suddenly the screaming fights between Leonardo and Splinter leading up to the day he had disappeared made more sense; but it didn't soothe their own pain, it only made it worse. Then as if to add insult to injury it was as if a silent cue had been given, both Raphael and Marina's phones went off with the alarm to warn them they needed to return to work. No one moved at first almost as if they were all straining to understand that the noise was in fact for their ears but finally Raphael reached for his phone and turned off the alarm. Marina turned off her alarm as well before gathering up her things and standing.

"Raph…drive me back to work please," she whispered, "Mikey…it's not your fault and we all know now. We can't change the past…but maybe in the future we can do better."

Michaelangelo just nodded as he hugged Angel who had yet to make a sound as she held the trembling mutant. Raphael paused before leaving, his hand gripping the door knob with such force it seemed to pain him then he looked over to Michaelangelo.

"Thank you," he whispered before turning the knob, opening the door and walking out.

The sound of his feet on the stairs broke the pained silence like a gunshot. Marina followed him down the stairs after quietly closing the door. The hushed quiet in the apartment was nearly deafening. Raphael was sitting in his car when Marina reached it and she got in without saying a word. Neither spoke the entire time they were in the vehicle but Marina reached over and laid her hand on Raphael's thigh in an attempt at comfort. His grip on the steering wheel tightened and he seemed to be blinking away tears but he didn't speak not until they reached the parking lot to the hospital where Marina was interning.

"Marina…I…I wish I had known the truth," he whispered, "Leo always had this thing about being morally right all the time. About living by honor…when Splinter told us I rubbed it in. I threw it in his face…especially since mutants were discovered around the time. I blamed him for us getting found out. I said it was his fault."

Marina fought tears before leaning over and kissing his cheek.

"He was your big brother and siblings can be horrible to each other especially once they think their siblings fell from the pedestal they put them on," Marina whispered as she gripped Raphael's chin and turned his face towards her, "You know he's alive now…there's still a chance to fix things."

Raphael heaved a sigh before offering her a slight smile. It was forced but an obvious effort to ease her concern. They both seemed to decide to play along with it and when Raphael finally spoke his voice cracked with pain but Marina again pretended she hadn't heard it for the sake of his pride.

"Thanks hun…it helps knowing he's alive I just...I hope he can forgive us someday," Raphael whispered.

Marina kissed his cheek before getting out of the car and headed inside. He watched her go until he saw her enter the building then turning to head back towards the station he was working at. He walked in the door with barely enough time to clock back in for the night and was greeted by his partner another detective. She was tall, blonde, and blue eyed and carried herself with the arrogance that beautiful women often did. It was no secret that she wasn't thrilled to be paired up with a mutant but at least she was polite to Raphael about it.

"Hey Hamato you alright?" the woman asked as she approached.

"Yeah," Raphael replied after clearing his throat, "It was good to see everyone."

She gave him a slightly concerned look before nodding and deciding to drop the subject.

"We got a tip about the illegal fights, there's supposed to be one tomorrow night," she stated.

Raphael resisted the urge to palm his face and held back an annoyed groan. _I'm going to kick Casey's ass for being an idiot._

"Do we know where it is?" he inquired, attempting to appear neutral despite his concern about Casey getting caught.

"Yeah there is an old warehouse down on 4th that seems to be the chosen venue," she replied, "The Chief is planning on sending in a couple of teams to break up the fight and try to get a hold of the section leader. We're one of the teams."

"Spectacular," Raphael grunted out before he could catch himself, thankfully his partner didn't seem to have heard him.

Then while her back was turned Raphael sent a warning text to Casey in hopes of preventing the knucklehead from doing something stupid and getting caught by the police. Meanwhile Haniel was stumbling into the on-call room for overnight nurses and interns. The room consisted of three sets of bunk beds arranged in a "C" formation. Haniel was yawning as he slipped into the room, only vaguely aware of the sound of others snoring softly. He fumbled around and found the closest bed, after realizing someone was already resting on the top bunk he moved to crawl into the bottom bunk. Unfortunately for him, Leo was already sleeping there and it wasn't restful. Nightmares had been plaguing him since he first laid down nearly a half hour ago. As Haniel leaned in to crawl into the space he paused frowning when his half-asleep brain made the connection that someone was already there. Unfortunately it was a second too late before he yelped as a solid punch sent him flying into the opposite set of bunks after smashing his head into the top bunk above him as he shot back.

"Ow dammit!" he cursed as he clutched his head and ribs, "Fuck that hurt."

Leo had sat up partially and was looking around in confusion the only other person in the room had bolted upright at the commotion, stumbled out of the top bunk and was flipping the lights on.

"Shit dude, you're bleeding like crazy," the other man gasped when he saw Haniel clutching his head.

Haniel pulled his hand away from his head and grimaced at the blood there. Leo moved forward and awkwardly lowered himself to the floor before signing out an apology and a request to examine the wound. Haniel squinted at him then turned scarlet when he realized who it was.

"Oh my god…I swear I wasn't…I was half asleep I _swear_ ," the man frantically apologized hoping beyond hope that he hadn't managed to completely ruin the budding relationship with the mutant.

Leo snorted before gesturing a request to examine the injury again. Haniel grimaced but nodded, moving his hand away to allow Leo to look. A soft whistle and "ouch" was heard from the other nurse in the room as Leo gently moved Haniel's hair out of the way to see the cut better.

"That's going to need stiches," the man chuckled, "damn Leo, remind me never to sneak up on you man."

Leo snorted again before gesturing to his cane. As the other man grabbed it for him, Leo put up a hand to request help up off the floor. There was some grunted and a few stumbled steps before Leo managed to get up with the man's help. After Leo was on his feet, leaning heavily on his cane, but on his feet the nurse leaned down and helped Haniel stand. Leo grabbed Haniel by the arm and guided him out of the room towards the ER station one floor down, shoved him into a chair at the Hub there and then scrounged around for supplies to stitch the injury. Haniel remained silent the entire time, wincing as Leo moved with quick but gentle touches to clean the cut before stitching it closed.

"Thanks," Haniel mumbled as Leo finished up then gathered up the remaining items that would need to be trashed.

"Damn Haniel what happened?" Marina laughed as she approached the pair; though she had a smile her voice seemed hollow and sad.

This fact was not lost on either man but a quick glance at each other was enough to decide to ignore her apparent distress for now. Haniel smirked instead.

"I tried to crawl into bed with Leo…he kicked my ass," Haniel replied, wincing as a twinge of pain crossed his skull.

Leo let out a garbled bark of laughter in response before shaking his head, grabbing his cane, and standing to throw away the items he'd gathered up. Marina's eyes widened.

"Seriously?" she sputtered, "well good you jerk."

Leo let out another garbled laugh from where he had retreated before limping back over to them and returning to the chair he had previously been sitting in.

"Nah I was half asleep and chose the wrong bunk," Haniel chuckled, "Leo did kinda kick my ass though."

Leo gave the man what could only be described as a half humored, half annoyed smile on his face. Well what of his smile that you could see from behind the silver scarf anyway.

"Oh wait until Shelly hears this," Marina giggled, laughing even harder after Haniel went pale.

Haniel groaned and buried his face in his hands as Leo snickered softly beside him.

 **A/N: Getting to the details of why Leo disappeared and it seems Donatello might have figured things out a bit. Our first look at Ao Akuma and a bit about Raphael's story are next up guys. Get ready for some intense few chapters. Leave me a review guys!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the TMNT but Shelly and other side characters used in this fic are owned solely by myself.

 **Note:** I base my writings off of the Classic TMNT comics and/or 2k3 Cartoon series. Any reference to something being wrong that has to do with the Classic toons or 2k12/Nickelodeon series will be ignored.

 **For those of you who read the** _ **What We Hide**_ **series, here at last is the alternate storyline. This was the original storyline for** _ **What We Hide**_ **but was scrapped due to how dark it was. This is not a happy story, it is dark, twisted, and explores a side of Leo not usually mentioned. Tony will make a short appearance but not in the way you will expect. Sit back, buckle up, and get ready for the darkest story I've ever written; a story of loss, revenge, and brutality unlike any other.**

 _"Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides." -Junichiro Tanizaki_

 **Chapter 5**

The morning brought no comfort for Donatello who had been lying awake all night in the half-made bed he'd tossed sheets on the night before after returning home from the Jones's. After Raphael and Marina had left, the group had slowly broken apart unable to meet each other's eyes as a result of Michaelangelo's confession. Donatello sighed as his alarm blared beside him on the floor. Boxes were scattered around him, some were open and partially unpacked but most were still closed. The apartment he was in was small; a kind person would call it quaint, anyone else would call it pathetic. Considering that with a surgeon's salary he could easily afford a much nicer place it was strange that Donatello was living in such a rundown and small apartment. Strange if you didn't realize how bad things had been for him before returning to New York; something that he would no doubt want to keep quiet. The alarm continued to blare out at an annoying decibel until Donatello finally groaned and sat up before reaching over and slapping it into silence. He rubbed his face with his hands and sighed heavily as if trying to adjust to a weight he wasn't used to carrying. He was shirtless, revealing a livid white mark in the shape of the letters "CS" across his upper chest and partially hidden by the edge of his plastron. Further inspection would reveal that the mark was in fact a scar from a branding. As Donatello sat on the edge of the battered mattress he stared down at his hands. He seemed to be searching for something hidden in the lines and creases there. The sound of a phone buzzing made him sigh again before he stood and went in search of the phone. As he pushed the thin sheet aside before standing he revealed his bare legs and the long number running down his right thigh _CS0082_ in black tattooed ink. Donatello grunted before stumbling over to where his phone was resting on the floor as it charged. After he saw it, he knelt and scooped it up, paused when he saw the number before answering.

"This is Donatello," he stated flatly.

 _You didn't call me last night._

"I was out with-" Donatello started, wincing as he was cut off.

 _With your family, I know. Do you honestly think I'd allow you to move back to New York without keeping tabs on you?_

"I'm…sorry sir. I should've told you," he replied, "But you had said that-"

 _Are you telling me what I said?_

Donatello swallowed before shakily responding as he gripped the phone with trembling fingers; all while kicking himself internally for allowing his guard to be dropped while visiting his family.

"No sir, I was just reiterating the details of our agreement," Donatello said cautiously, "I believe that there was a line in the contract that allowed me some measure of flexibility with my evening hours."

There was silence from the other line and Donatello didn't dare breathe as he waited.

 _This…is true. But I was very clear about the degree of contact with your family._

"It won't happen again sir," Donatello whispered, "I will return to minimal contact at your request."

 _See to it. I will be in New York on Friday for your…benefit dinner. Be sure to be presentable._

"Yes mister Sullivan," Donatello responded softly.

There was a click as the man on the other line hung up and Donatello dropped the phone before slumping to the ground as he leaned against the wall. His shoulders shook with suppressed sobs and tears rolled down his cheeks as he covered his mouth with both hands. Master Splinter must be spinning in his grave knowing that his son, a trained ninja, had let his guard down and allowed himself to be followed with such specificity. That he had jeopardized the safety of his friends and family. He'd been sloppy, he'd slipped up, and he had to be more careful.

After all Cecil Sullivan was not a man to be trifled with.

After a few moments Donatello cleared his throat and attempted to scrub his face clean. When he managed to gather himself be got up and stumbled to the bathroom, showering quickly before hurriedly getting ready for work. Donatello chose a dark grey dress shirt with a lavender tie to pair with black slacks. Not one piece of this outfit was anything special, in fact it was at closer inspection bordering on the side of scandalously cheap for a neurosurgeon to be wearing.

Plain.

Boring.

Inexpensive.

But they worked, they could pass at first glance as something high end, as something well made. If you didn't look to close anyway and not that it really mattered, Donatello would change into scrubs first chance he got upon reaching the hospital. As he finished fastening his tie Donatello moved into the kitchen, started to reach for the cupboard then stopped. His shoulders dropped and he winced as his stomach growled. The meal he'd had last night at April and Casey's had been more food than he had eaten in weeks and due to that he was struggling with his normal routine of skipping breakfast. Mentally he calculated what money he had until his next paycheck before sighing and opening the cupboard door. He couldn't afford lunch today and he needed to eat something. There was a single box of granola bars, a small bag of apples, and a few boxes of cheap pasta inside it. Donatello hesitantly took one of the apples before he could change his mind. He checked to make sure he had his keys and phone then left the apartment as quietly as he could. As he descended the stairs and walked out of the apartment building he spotted a black car sitting just down the street from his own vehicle. His car was a slightly battered slate grey jaguar from the early 90s and it was the most expensive thing he owned. That being said, when he'd bought it off a dealer four years ago he'd redone the entire wiring system of the car, cleaned up the engine, and installed a security system that had yet to be hacked. It wasn't very pretty to look at and was far from being in its "glory" but it ran and was a reasonably decent car for a surgeon to be driving. If anyone asked why Donatello hadn't bought a newer, and nicer, car he'd simply respond that the car served its purpose and he'd grown attached to it.

But his own car wasn't the one that had him concerned; it was the black car just down the block. Inside it were two men that Donatello knew too well; Markus and Joseph, Sullivan's men. They were no doubt keeping an eye on him. Donatello tossed the apple he'd been holding into the air once, caught it, and then fitted a key into the lock on his car after taking a bite of his apple. He'd taken a page from his older brother Raphael's book and played off his anxiety over being watched as if nothing was bothering him. It was surprisingly easy to fake being calm.

As Donatello got into the car and later pulled away the black car moved from its spot and followed him. Donatello suppressed the shiver of unease as they followed him. Despite traffic, it didn't take him too long to get to the hospital and then his parking space. The black car passed him as he got out and kept moving in what an untrained eye would assume was a search for a parking space. But Donatello knew they were watching to make sure he went into work. As he entered the building and walked down the hallway towards the elevator that would take him to his office he spotted Shelly walking towards him while she was texting on her phone. She was in her scrubs but seemed to be heading for the parking lot. Donatello couldn't help the smile that twitched at the corners of his mouth as she laughed at something she read. He awkwardly coughed as he stopped to wait for her. When Shelly glanced up he waved and offered a friendly smile.

"Hey," she greeted, "good morning."

"You too I hope," he replied as he pushed the concerns from earlier out of his mind.

"Pretty well actually, I was just running home to grab a change of clothes for Leo. He forgot to pack a bag for his physical therapy session later," Shelly stated after rolling her eyes, "More likely he did it on purpose because he hates the sessions."

Donatello snorted before chuckling and shaking his head.

"Why's that?" he chuckled softly as he stood as casually as he could manage.

"Honestly I'm not sure. He doesn't seem to mind working out or anything," Shelly sighed before blowing a bang out of her face, "I think the exercises they have him do and the strength training for his legs make them cramp and hurt honestly. His leg pains him enough on a given day so I can only assume that those exercises are a tipping point ya know?"

Donatello nodded and frowned slightly.

"Well, the strength training is the only way his leg is going to get stronger," Donatello mused, "But if he's in chronic pain from using the leg…has he told his therapist this?"

Shelly blinked as if startled by the suggestion and then she slowly frowned.

"Actually…I don't think he's told anyone but me. We all know his leg hurts him sometimes," Shelly mused, then with a sigh, "But the only one who knows how often it bothers him is me…dammit Leo."

A sad smile flickered across Donatello's face. The memory of the coding from the manual he'd borrowed from Marina last night returned with waves of curious anticipation. He suspected even more now than before that Leo Lake was his brother Leonardo. The same stubborn pride was evident here with not sharing the constant pain.

"He seems rather stubborn," Donatello mused with a chuckle.

"Not so much stubborn as tenacious which are similar I'll admit," Shelly laughed, then after a moment she sighed, "I have to go though I only have about an hour before Leo's appointment. It was nice chatting with you."

Donatello nodded but didn't have a chance to reply before she darted away with a smile and a wave. For the past eight years he'd guarded his heart with the same armor he hid his secrets with but somehow Shelly has just put a small chink in that armor. The only evidence was his fluttering heart and the feeling of breathlessness as he watched her jogged away, the sun causing her amber curls to look almost like a halo of gold against her dark skin. After a moment he shuddered and collected himself before turning and flushing scarlet. Leo Lake was staring at him with what could only be described as genuine annoyance from the end of the hallway. The mutant grunted before turning and limping away down the adjoining hall. Donatello remained where he was as he attempted to stop his racing heart and calm himself enough to stop blushing. Donatello slapped himself in the face and groaned. He dragged his hand down his face before grunting and walking further down the hall and into his office quickly closing the door behind him.

"Great work Donatello," he muttered to himself, "Way to piss off the guy you think is your brother after pissing off the guy who runs your life."

The pleasant fluttery feeling that Donatello had experienced only minutes before while talking to Shelly had soured into something akin to nausea. _What if Sullivan found out about how he felt? If Sullivan even suspected..._ A shudder rippled through him and he sucked in a breath before steeling himself; again building up a wall of armor around his aching heart. Despite how he was beginning to feel about Shelly he couldn't risk endangering her. As Donatello struggled to quell his feelings and fears Leo was limping down the hall towards his desk musing over what he had seen. Anger, frustration, and fear all twisted in his gut. Was Donatello flirting with Shelly because he genuinely liked her or so that he could get answers from her about him? Honestly he'd be angry either way…and he was. Leo still wasn't sure he wanted his brothers back in his life and the last thing he wanted was to lose his best friend because of his brother. Leo grunted in annoyance as he reached his desk and sank into the chair there. Marina was seated in the chair off to the side, sorting through the files he'd assigned her to analyze. She glanced up as he aggressively shoved his cane against his desk but ignored it as it bounced and hit the floor before rolling away.

"Everything okay?" she asked cautiously.

He ignored her and Marina decided to let the matter go, she'd seen Raphael set his shoulders in the same sort of tense anger before. It was never a good idea to pressure an answer until he calmed down and she could only assume that Leo was the same way. Unfortunately Haniel had walked up only seconds after she came to this conclusion. He had spent the majority of the night with them after Leo insisted he stay. Leo's reasoning had been to make sure he hadn't given Haniel a concussion after throwing him across the room. Marina suspected it had more to do with the fact that Leo felt both guilty about injuring the man and perhaps delighted with the idea of caring for him. Haniel blinked then knelt to pick up the cane before gently propping it against the desk. He eyed the mutant with a slight, but concerned, frown before putting a hand cautiously onto his shoulder. Leo jumped slightly in response before blushing as he saw Haniel beside him.

"Easy babe, sorry didn't mean to scare you," Haniel attempted to soothe.

Leo flushed at his choice of words before looking towards him and sighing. His hands moved slowly in as he signed as if unsure how to phrase what he was trying to convey.

 _Please don't call me that._

Haniel blinked and his cheeks colored slightly before nodding. Marina smiled a little at the exchange. Leo was obviously moving from annoyed and angry to flustered and nervous.

"Sorry I didn't think," Haniel replied with a wince, "We're not even dating so I don't know what I was-"

Leo coughed before staring at his hands before gripping one of his arms and closing his eyes.

 _Can we take things slow?_ He signed out after a moment. _I must admit I'm nervous._

Haniel cocked his head before nodding and coughing. Marina resisted the urge to say "aww" knowing that Leo admitting his concerns to Haniel must have been something of an effort; not to mention embarrassing. Haniel ruffled his hair slightly, wincing as he bumped the area where the bandage was, but he dropped into a crouch in an attempt to make eye contact with Leo who was still staring at his hands.

"Of course," Haniel started, "Let's just start with the dinner we planned last night and go from there."

He touched one of Leo's hands gently which caused the mutant to look up at him. Haniel offered a warm smile which caused Leo to smile behind his scarf before coughing and pulling away. Haniel let him move away before standing and walking over to the stack of files waiting for him to pick up. Marina waved a greeting as she continued taking notes over the files she was looking over. Haniel paused as he flipped through the files he'd received and stood beside her.

"Is he okay?" Haniel whispered.

"I think something upset him but I'm honestly not sure," she replied softly, "Give him some space. I'll get him to talk in a bit if he wants to."

It would take a while before Leo finally calmed down or rather a while before he had the chance to calm down. As the day moved into full swing there was nothing sort of a dozen emergencies, multiple mix ups with paperwork that were thankfully caught in time, and a varying number of personal tragedies that resulted in fights. Leo was forced to help break up a fight between two men in the waiting area of the emergency room and was knocked clean off his feet in the process. It only seemed to piss him off more and many of the staff steered clear of him after watching him knock out the more violent of the two men seconds later. It wasn't until midday rolled around and he was eating at his desk that Marina got him to smile. It was rather unintentional actually she had been joking with Haniel about nothing in particular when she had said something that had apparently been very funny to Leo. It had been the first time he'd smiled all day and after Marina victory dance and Leo's rough laughter he seemed to at last return to his quiet calm. Leo was handed a few new files to look through and Marina stood to grab the stapler for him as he gestured his confusion as to where it had gone. As Marina spotted it she walked over to grab it and grinned when she heard her name.

"Hey Marina they told me this was where you'd be," Angel greeted.

"Angel!" Marina stated with a smile, quickly handing Leo the stapler before moving out and around the desk to give the woman a hug.

"Would you maybe be up for taking me to my appointment?" Angel asked shyly, "I'm a bit nervous to be honest since Mikey couldn't get away from the office."

"Appointment?" Marina asked curiously with a hint of a worried tone.

"Twelve week sonogram," Angel replied with a blush, "Hoping to find out the gender today if possible. Unfortunately Mikey couldn't get the time off since he just started at the new job but being your own boss has it's perks at least."

At the names "Angel" and "Mikey" Leo tensed but at the word "sonogram" his head snapped up so fast there was the distinct sound from the bones in his neck popping. In the same instant he'd been in the process of stapling a few papers and his hand jerked down onto the stapler head sending a staple straight into one of his fingers. He gave a startled screech in pain and jerked his hand back sending the stapler into a vase behind him, which shattered; as he clutched the afflicted hand and nursed the finger. Everyone jumped in response. One of the nurses behind the Hub gave Leo a bewildered look until she saw the blood and shot forward.

"How did you manage to staple your finger?!" the nurse sputtered as she saw what had happened.

Leo wasn't making eye contact in fact he was trying very hard to not look up as the nurse scolded him for not being more careful. He looked very much like a mortified child at the moment. Marina and Angel were both staring in startled humor while Marina was biting her lip in the effort not to laugh.

"I'll be right back," Marina managed to say between half-suppressed giggles.

Angel nodded covering her mouth but watched the hunched figure with a critical eye. As best she could anyway the way he was sitting made it difficult to get a good look at him. But she watched and her eyes widened when he turned his head to look at Marina.

"Leo?" she breathed out in shock, "Oh my God…"

The group around Leo was oblivious to her stunned realization. One look at his face told her everything she needed to know after hearing Mikey's suspicions last night. Well that and the way he had reacted to what she said. She hadn't actually intended for him to hear her but he had and his reaction had been that of someone genuinely shocked at the news. Only someone who was shocked, but would care would react that way. As Marina darted away to grab supplies for stitches and the nurse moved to throw away the stable she had removed Leo was left alone for a brief moment.

"It is you isn't it?" She asked softly to the Leo's back, "A friend of yours told us you were alive. I know what happened, what we did to you was unforgiveable, but please…give us a chance."

He tensed but otherwise didn't acknowledge her and before she could step closer the nurse had returned with Marina in tow. Marina handed off the supplies to the nurse, checked on Leo who shooed her away, and then slipped over to Angel.

"Boss said I could escort you to your appointment and take my break if I wanted to stay," she stated with a grin.

Angel managed to smile back despite her concern about Leo's refusal to respond. As Marina hooked arms with her, she decided to continue on as if nothing had changed. Despite this she cast one last look over her shoulder at the mutant sitting at the desk. His head was turned and he was watching her as she left. They made eye contact for a brief moment before he looked away. But that moment was enough to confirm to Angel her suspicions. The stare he'd given her, that _look_ , had been pure Leonardo and it made her heart ache. Because the look he'd given her had been the same look he'd given his enemies when he was challenging them; a declaration of controlled anger. Leonardo was not ready to forgive them.

"You okay?" Marina asked as they walked down the hall, "You got quiet all the sudden."

"Oh I'm fine, just wishing Mikey could be here," Angel only partially lied; she did in fact wish Michaelangelo could be there, but she also didn't want to cause any trouble between Marina and Leo since he was her boss. It wasn't until around midday that Leo saw Angel again and it was only in passing as left his station for the day, leaving Marina in charge of the Board. She gave a little wave as he limped past her but he pretended not to have noticed. He beat Shelly to the locker rooms and pulled the bag of clothes she'd ran home to grab him out before limping towards the more private bathroom area to change. He didn't like people looking at his scars if he could help it. Shelly entered the locker room to collect her things a few moments later and resisted a giggle at Leo's sudden, but muffled, grunt of annoyance. There was a few minutes before he limped back out into the main locker room wearing shorts, tennis shoes, and his long sleeve top he'd been wearing under his scrubs. He was securing his scarf in place with his cane tucked into the crook of his arm as Shelly spotted him.

"You can't wear the long sleeved shirt, you know that," Shelly scolded while fighting the urge to smile, "The doctor will want to check on your scars and your shoulders."

Leo scowled in response before making a sharp gesture and signing out a reply.

 _I am not wearing that shirt._

"Oh come on it's awesome!" Shelly laughed.

 _No_. Leo signed out with a large gesture and a shake of his head. Shelly darted forward and tried to grab the bag where the shirt in question was still hidden away. He gave her a playful shove and she laughed as she tumbled back holding the bag. She darted out of his reach after pulling the shirt out and waving it at him. Leo grunted and hobbled after her with a grin as he leaned into his cane. Haniel walked in as they were engaged in the makeshift game of keep away and chuckled as he watched. Then with a grin he grabbed the shirt out of Shelly's hand as she darted past him and looked at it while Leo stood with his hand over his face. The shirt itself was black but across the front in hot pink letters were the words _Your workout is My warm up_. Haniel snorted before looking up at Leo with a grin.

"Hey, they do say real guys wear pink," he teased.

Leo flushed in response and grabbed the shirt out of Haniel's hands after limping forward. Shelly giggled before waving to Haniel. Leo stood awkwardly between the two of them cheeks still burning behind his silver scarf. Leo gave Shelly a look before taking a step back.

"He hates pink," she explained.

"Ah," Haniel replied, his sea foam-green eyes widening briefly in understanding.

"Leo, it was all I could find that was clean since we didn't do laundry this weekend," Shelly sighed at the still flustered mutant, "You're going to have to wear it since the doc won't let you wear long sleeves."

Leo grimaced before sighing and moving to the bathroom area to change again. Haniel watched him go with a confused look as Leo left the room before glancing at Shelly.

"He gets self-conscious," she explained with a wince, "because of his scars."

Haniel winced as well before nodding and bracing himself. The last thing he wanted to do was insult Leo by accident after seeing the scars.

"I convinced Leo to go out for lunch tomorrow," Haniel said softly, obviously attempting to create some conversation as they waited, "and then maybe dinner on Friday."

As he spoke he moved over to his locker and opened it, pulling out his phone but not looking at it. Shelly smiled softly in response.

"He must like you a lot," she mused softly, "It's been a long time since he showed interest in someone."

Haniel gave her a curious look then seemed to pause.

"I know I just met him and he's had…a rough past," Haniel whispered, "Is it wrong for me to be pressuring him into go out and such?"

Shelly laughed softly.

"If he is agreeing to go out with you, then you aren't pressuring him," Shelly stated, giving the man beside her a gentle smile, "It means he likes you too. When I say it's been a while for him. I mean Leo hasn't had a relationship with anyone since he was attacked."

"But…wasn't he attacked-" Haniel started.

"Ten years ago, yeah," Shelly finished for him, "I think he's finally starting to admit he's lonely to be honest. Just be kind to him okay?"

Leo leaned against the wall just around the corner as he listened to them talk. He sighed and closed his eyes before gripping the necklace and scarf around his neck with careful fingers. The image of a man with black curly hair and laughing sapphire blue eyes appeared in his mind. Leo mouthed the name _Tony_ as the image appeared then quickly wiped a few tears from his eyes and swallowed the knot building in this throat. His heart ached and it took all the strength he had to lean into his cane before stepping into the main room where Haniel and Shelly were waiting. They hadn't seen him yet and Leo took the chance to look at Haniel and despite the ache in his heart he felt a warmth and calm he hadn't felt in such a long time. Haniel was lean and tall, his dark brown hair was tussled and messy, more wavy than curly; but his eyes were what drew Leo in. The color of the palest green, like a piece of nearly translucent jade, or the spray from the waves as they met the shore; and every time Haniel smiled the faint green color would seem to glint with a playful light.

It took his breath away.

Leo looked down at the scarf around his neck and the necklace he was still holding with one hand, his fingers rubbing the _Yu_ pendent anxiously.

 _Have Courage._

Leo swallowed, closed his eyes once more as he let out a breath and smiled briefly at the image of Tony he'd held onto so dearly; then whispered a goodbye in the depths of his heart. Tony had been his past, and his heart would never forget him, but with Haniel he had a chance at a future. Tony would've wanted him to at least try. Leo opened his eyes and took another step forward, shyly dropping his gaze away from Haniel and coughed nervously. Both Shelly and Haniel glanced his way. Haniel made a soft gasp when he saw the extensive scarring on Leo's arms before he could stop himself. Despite the healing time, the scar tissue was still bright against his skin and his arms were twisted slightly causing the muscles there to look very intimidating. Leo flinched just slightly at the gasp then looked up in surprise as Haniel gave a soft whistle.

"I knew you worked out," Haniel teased, causing Leo to blush, "I thought so after you punched me last night."

Leo laughed roughly as he blushed even more and Shelly let out a soft squeal of laughter as she covered her mouth. Haniel tucked the phone he'd been holding into his pocket, closed his locker and stepped over to Leo after offering his arm.

"May I escort you to your appointment since I'm on break?" he inquired quietly.

Leo blinked in surprise, glanced down at the top of the cane he was leaning on, and then nodded without looking up. He stepped forward after a moment and took Haniel's arm, his cheeks still dark with a blush. Then as if remembering something he paused a moment before he started to move towards his locker with a stumble. Shelly waved him away.

"I'll get your stuff," she soothed, "Haniel his appointment is with Richards."

"Got it," Haniel replied before smiling at Leo and directing him out the door.

Haniel seemed surprised by how much Leo depended on his cane to walk and did his best to take the less traveled route to the physical therapy room as he could to spare Leo any embarrassment. As Shelly was leaving the locker room with both her and Leo's things she spotted Donatello down the hall. Shelly had in fact started to think she was imagining his quiet flirting and decided that if he wasn't going to make the first move then she would. After all his quiet calm and shy smiles were constantly tugging on her heart. She took a breath before approaching him and waiting a moment for him to notice her. Donatello felt his heart rate increase slightly as he saw Shelly approach out of the corner of his eye. Logically he should cut all ties with her to protect her. Logically he should really _not_ risk pissing off Leo Lake who was looking more and more like Leonardo by showing interest in Shelly. But his heart was another matter, it wouldn't stop fluttering every time he saw her, and he couldn't help but smile every time he thought of her. After a moment of nervous anticipation he glanced up at her and offered a slight smile, doubts and fears beating at the back of his mind the whole time.

"So. Please be honest with me here but am I crazy or is there maybe something going on here," Shelly asked softly pointing to herself then to Donatello.

"I-Um…well…I…" Donatello struggled, completely thrown off by her direct question, "I…yes…you….."

His flustered reply make Shelly bite her lip with the effort not to laugh which caused him to blush slightly.

"I think I heard a yes in there somewhere," she coaxed softly.

"Yes," he finally blurted out before his logical thinking could stop him.

"Okay so, if you're free on Thursday I might possibly be as well," Shelly coaxed again, fighting the urge to laugh at the flustered mutant.

"I am yeah…um…dinner?" Donatello managed to sputter out awkwardly.

"I'd like that," Shelly replied, "Say around seven?"

Donatello nodded before awkwardly replying again, "I'll pick you up."

"It's a date then," Shelly stated with a smile before biting her lip again and turning away.

Donatello groaned before palming his face, still blushing, after she walked away giggling softly.

"You're in trouble now Donatello," he groaned, but smiled as he watched her walk away, "What the hell am I going to do?"

 **A/N: This was actually supposed to be a longer chapter but I liked this as a stopping point. Hope you guys enjoyed! Also…what did Donnie get himself into hmm? Leave me a review guys!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the TMNT but Shelly and other side characters used in this fic are owned solely by myself.

 **Note:** I base my writings off of the Classic TMNT comics and/or 2k3 Cartoon series. Any reference to something being wrong that has to do with the Classic toons or 2k12/Nickelodeon series will be ignored.

 **For those of you who read the** _ **What We Hide**_ **series, here at last is the alternate storyline. This was the original storyline for** _ **What We Hide**_ **but was scrapped due to how dark it was. This is not a happy story, it is dark, twisted, and explores a side of Leo not usually mentioned. Tony will make a short appearance but not in the way you will expect. Sit back, buckle up, and get ready for the darkest story I've ever written; a story of loss, revenge, and brutality unlike any other.**

 _"Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides." -Junichiro Tanizaki_

 **Chapter 6**

After Shelly and Leo returned home that afternoon, Leo retreated to his room and collapsed onto his bed after setting an alarm. His mind was buzzing with a thousand worries and concerns. He was currently lying on his back in bed staring blankly at the ceiling. Every once and a while he'd turn his head to the left so that his blind eye was directed towards the ceiling and his good eye was glaring into the Ao Akuma hannya mask propped up on his desk. The deep blue color of the mask was the only tie to Leo's past and the red glass covers over the eye openings glinted with an eerie light. _Ao Akuma_ may have only appeared on the streets about three years ago, but he had been born, for lack of another word, ten years ago amongst the flames that had killed Hamato Leonardo. Figuratively speaking of course, Hamato Leonardo was _dead_ , and Ao Akuma was the beast that remained. Leo sighed heavily not sure if he truly wanted to linger on those memories; the ones flickering at the edge of his mind like the flames that had burned him so long ago. He shuddered before sitting up, pausing as his hand brushed something under his pillow. He didn't move for a moment before moving his hand up while pushing the pillow away. Underneath the pillow was a battered, tear-stained, and faded picture. Leo stared down at it without making a sound; he seemed to have even stopped breathing. Then with an almost hesitant motion he picked up the picture. It was him with his brothers or rather _Leonardo_ with his brothers. Leo Lake had claimed since the day he woke from a coma that he had no family. Shelly knew the truth, he'd told her who he had been and who they were but Leo wanted to keep them away and she had respected that wish especially after learning what they had done to him. What they had done to him was nothing compared to what had happened when he left them behind. Leo touched the scars on the right side of his face and felt anger flicker through his soul.

The beast was awaking and along with it were the memories of its birth.

Leo's hand clenched into a fist as it gripped the sheets to his bed and he let out a low growl before his good eye unfocused as he was plunged into a memory.

 _I had been keeping Tony a secret for years, especially after Splinter and I had a screaming fight over my attempt to introduce them. Sensei wanted nothing to do with me having a relationship with another man._

 _In fact he forbade me from telling my brothers._

 _He even forbade me to see Tony again._

 _I was determined to prove to my father that I was capable of still being a dutiful son while maintaining my relationship with Tony so I reluctantly obeyed his order. It was more out of the desire to protect Tony from embarrassment than out of respect to my father. Tony was furious with my father but at my request agreed to only enter the lair when I told him I was alone._

 _After nearly getting caught twice we decided that his place was safest for us to meet at; despite the half hour trip required for me._

 _I had been planning a nice evening with him for the last week when I entered his flat to find the lights out and signs of struggle. My first fear was that Splinter had found out I had defied him and had harmed Tony in retaliation._

 _It wouldn't be the first time he'd threatened to._

 _I bolted from the window and moved as fast as I could without making a sound through the apartment but it wasn't until I stepped in something warm, wet, and sticky that I stopped moving._

 _The smell was what made me freeze though._

 _Blood._

" _Tony? TONY," I called out, panic preventing me from holding true to my training, "TONY ANSWER ME DAMMIT."_

 _I heard my name, barely, but I heard it and I bolted towards the sound. I gaged when I saw him, spread eagle across his living room floor, blood soaking into the white carpet. I rushed forward and dropped to my knees, almost too scared to touch him._

 _On his back were stylized angel wings literally carved into the skin of his back and arms, there was blood oozing from his neck, and his face was a mass of bruises._

" _Leo," he rasped, before convulsing._

" _Shush don't move," I try to soothe, frantically trying to decide where to start applying pressure to slow the bleeding, "Who did this to you?"_

 _Tony is convulsing as I move to finally apply pressure to his cut under his neck while trying to use what is left of his tattered shirt to slow the bleeding on his back with my other hand. As I am doing this I spot his phone inches from his fingers and realize he'd been attempting to phone for help._

 _That's when I get the distinct feeling I'm being watched._

" _Leo, h-h-he's still here," Tony rasps, convulsing again before choking and struggling to breathe._

 _I hear the click of a gun and turn my head to see someone standing in the shadows. I feel Tony shudder under me and his ragged gasps are growing weaker. I make eye contact with the figure in the shadows as they step forward._

 _Eyes black as coal meet my golden-brown._

 _The gun goes off and I jerk back to avoid getting shot. Unfortunately my hands are no longer slowing the bleeding for Tony and he starts to bleed freely again. I curse and try to move forward to help him again but another gunshot makes me snarl as I feel a bullet graze my arm._

" _Son of a bitch," I hear myself curse, "Who the fuck are you?"_

 _I lunge forward before he can answer but he ducks out of the way and bolts for the exit. I snarl, fingers scraping the fringe of his jacket as he slips out of my reach. I'm torn between chasing him down and returning to help Tony. Ultimately the feeble whimper of my name decides for me. I rush back to Tony's side before gathering him up and trying to stop the bleeding. He convulses violently in my arms as I'm attempting to move him to the bathroom where his first aid kit is. Suddenly his rasping breaths stop and he shudders a final time._

" _Tony?" I demand, looking down in horror as he doesn't reply, "TONY!"_

 _I remember screaming, attempting CPR, frantically trying to revive him before finally giving up and clutching him to me as his body cooled._

 _In the end I called 911 after taking his necklace and putting it around my neck. I tried to clean him up a bit, in a worthless attempt to give him some sort of dignity in death. I stayed in the roof until the cops arrived then retreated to the lair._

 _I don't remember getting home, I don't remember apparently sitting at the table still soaked in Tony's blood, I don't remember anything except Mikey's horrified screams when he found me the next morning._

 _I was numb._

" _Leo? Leo what the hell?" I hear Raph scream at me and I realize they've been trying to talk to me for some time now._

 _I look down at my hands and shiver a little when I realize I'm covered in blood._

 _Tony's blood._

" _Leo where are you hurt?" I hear Don demand, "Jesus you're soaked how are you alive?"_

 _I feel him trying to check me over for injuries but I can't find the ability to move or answer him._

 _I'm numb._

" _Dead," I hear myself mumble, "He's dead."_

" _Whose dead?" Mikey asks nervously._

 _Splinter sends my brothers away so suddenly that I am left with the mild sense that I had been imagining them there in the first place. He rushed me away from my brothers and cleaned me up after convincing them to let him tend to me. It wasn't until later that I broke down sobbing and confessed everything I had hidden from my father before telling him what had happened. In a brief moment he did his best to soothe my pain before telling me to trust him to explain the situation._

 _I was too consumed with grief to argue._

 _But everything changed after that. Suddenly my brothers avoided me; they wouldn't make eye contact and seemed to be hesitant to be alone with me. Isolated and grieving I began to slowly slip into the depression I had been so determined to fight against._

 _I stopped eating._

 _I simply wasn't hungry._

 _I slept constantly when I wasn't crying._

 _My soul was tired._

 _I was lonely and my family didn't seem to care._

 _Even April and Casey avoided me._

 _It was nearly a week after Tony's death that I snuck out of the lair and into his flat once more to take a few of his things to remember him by. His favorite silver scarf, an ornate wrist cuff he'd had made for me, and a picture of him. It was all I dared take and I hid them desperately from my family. Splinter caught me as I returned and after feeling his cane I was locked within my room._

 _Despair coupled with grief became my bedfellow. Along with terrible dreams and nightmares; some nights I'd have dreams of spending time with Tony only to wake bereft of his touch other nights I'd wake screaming from seeing how he died._

 _I began to force myself to become like stone, feeling nothing, my heart caged away. It backfired against me I became empty and forgot how to care._

 _As a result in an attempt to feel something I began to cut into my arms with the shattered pieces of glass from the mirror in my room._

 _Splinter had already emptied my room of all weapons._

 _I don't know how long I am locked in my room, only seeing Splinter as he brought me food, or hearing him scold me for harming myself. But finally I'm ordered out of my room. I'm too heartbroken to argue but I slip a sweatshirt on before leaving my room. Splinter left hours ago after giving up on having me comply. Fresh cuts on my forearms are bleeding as they sting when I finally do leave my room._

 _The pain centers me._

 _I nervously enter the kitchen to hear my brothers laughing in the den area and I see the distinct flickering lights of the TV in there. Suddenly I become painfully aware of how hungry I am as I see the leftovers from my family's dinner on the counter._

 _But I find I'm unable to move until a soft gasp makes me jump._

 _It's April._

" _Leo, hey," she says as if trying to soothe a wild animal who is scared, "It's good to see you. Did you want something to eat? There's some in the fridge."_

 _I'm suddenly aware that I am trembling badly; it's the first time a member of my family besides Splinter as spoken to me in so long I don't know how to reply. Finally I just nod before dropping my gaze to the floor and gripping my right arm causing the cuts to smart and sting worse._

 _And bleed._

 _I need to feel even though I'd rather just die._

 _I stand there, head down, as April makes up a plate and warms it up in the microwave. I hear someone approaching and keep my eyes down._

" _Leo?" I hear Mikey ask nervously, "April…uh…Casey was wanting something."_

 _Because my eyes are down I don't see what Mikey motions but seconds later April rushes out of the kitchen and I am left alone with my youngest brother._

" _I don't know what you're up to but…uh…take it easy okay?" he says softly._

 _Confusion flickers through me at his words and my heart which I thought I'd turned to stone shudders in my chest when I realize he's scared of me._

 _Michaelangelo is scared of me._

 _I start to lift me head only to feel a harsh grip on my arm. A yelp escapes me as I am dragged away from the kitchen and left standing by the stairs. Mikey retreats a few steps then stops._

" _Jesus," I hear him gasp and look up to see him staring at his hand in horror._

 _It's covered in my blood but the way he is looking at me shatters the walls around my heart._

 _He looks terrified._

 _I bolt up the stairs and into my room._

" _LEO!" he shouts._

 _Once I'm in my room I dive for the piece of broken glass I'd hidden under my pillow from Splinter. I can't breathe, I can't think, the image of Mikey's look is burned into my mind._

 _Alongside it Tony's convulsing body._

 _I just want to die._

 _It's as I am dragging the glass shard across my throat that I feel a set of hands roughly trying to stop me. I've lost so much strength from not eating that it is an easy task to stop me. Even so I've managed to cut deep into my lower throat and I can hear him screaming for help as I black out._

 _I'm groggy and confused as I wake what I would learn was the next evening. When I try to move I find that I am tied down and I freeze as I hear hushed voices._

" _Raph come on I just want to check on him," Mikey whispers_

" _Splinter gave orders not to approach him Mike," Raph snaps softly," he wants to be the first one to talk to him when he wakes up. I don't know why you want to see him anyway after what he did to your hands."_

" _If he wakes up," Don grunts out skeptically._

" _He will wake up," I hear Mike say softly, "My hands are fine Raph, I keep telling you he didn't mean to cut me."_

" _Whatever," Raph scoffs before walking away, "Stay away from him."_

" _But-"Mike starts to protest._

" _Mike just…come on," Don orders in a tone that is harsher than I've ever heard him use._

 _I close my eyes and fight tears, they really want nothing to do with me, and I hurt Mikey._

 _Shame crashes down and mixes with my grief._

 _I failed to save Tony._

 _I failed to explain what happened._

 _I failed my family._

 _I failed to kill myself and hurt Mikey in the process._

 _Why can't I just die?_

 _It would be days later that Splinter would finally untie me and in a last desperate effort once they had all gone to bed I left the lair, clutching to me a small bundle of my most precious items. I would hide those items in an old cavern my family didn't know I retreated to before making the decision to take my life. It took me a while to gather up the weights from my private cavern and carry them to the south junction where the various pipes all connected into a massive swirling pool before being sent out to sea. The various cuts to my arms and neck where still healing and had broken open as I carried my burden. It wasn't until I'd finished tying the weights to my arms and legs and I had stepped to the edge that I heard my brother's voice._

" _Leo…don't do it," Mikey pleads._

 _I turn to look at him, close my eyes, and step back off of the edge._

" _NO" I hear him scream before my head connects with something hard._

 _I had hoped to die then but fate was a Bitch._

 _I'd woken in chains and caged as humans spoke in soft whispers around me, sometimes laughing as anther mutant screamed from the forced branding. A man was standing in front of my cage staring down at me as I struggled to find the will to care about my situation._

 _Tony was dead and my family hated me._

 _There was no reason to care._

" _I've never seen one so passive," the man in front of my cage mused._

" _We think it might be retarded to be honest," another chuckled, "It won't even eat unless we force it."_

" _From the head injury you think?" the first man asked._

 _It was then that I realized my head ached something fierce and I vaguely remembered smashing my head into a pipe during my desperate dive for death._

" _That's what the doc thinks yeah," the second man replied._

" _You said there is a female of the same kind?" the first man asked._

 _Confusion flickered across my mind and I tried to move my head only to fight down a cry of pain at the motion._

" _Yeah, breeding age too, but she's a handful to work with. She fights like a demon." the second man answered, "Do you want us to-?"_

" _Yes, let's see if they are fertile," the first man replied, "Do it artificially, we don't need them hurting each other; or rather her hurting him."_

 _There was laughter from the second man before he walked away. The first man remained where he was for a moment before leaving but I didn't bother to look up at him._

" _Yo Jack, brand the male and take samples, boss wants the albino bitch to have a bun in the oven," the second man ordered as he moved away._

 _Anxiety flickered across my body and I made a feeble effort to move but slumped limp against the bars when I realized how fragile I was._

 _Before I'd jumped I hadn't eaten in days and it seemed that I hadn't until recently either._

 _I was weak._

 _I was broken._

 _Useless._

 _And the worst part was that I didn't even care._

 _They drugged me to take the samples they wanted, but I woke to the screaming curses of the female they mentioned later that day. Her eyes were red like fire, her skin white as the driven snow, and her shell a soft pinkish white._

 _Albino._

 _A brand was on the underside of her right arm. A livid "B" with a number tattooed under it._

 _T001._

 _She was screaming obscenities and slamming herself against the bars as she twisted against the shackles holding her. It took me a moment to realize that my own arm smarted painfully and I looked down to see the raw, bloody, mess under my own right arm from the same brand and a recent tattoo as well._

 _T002._

 _I groaned, my mind foggy with pain and delirium, before struggling to my feet._

 _She stopped her thrashing then and glared at me._

" _You son of a bitch, you bastard," she spat._

 _I blinked at her and frowned._

" _What?" I croaked out, thirst and the drugs they'd given me causing my throat to be dry._

" _What?" she spat, "WHAT? You BASTARD, you just had to get caught, to be so mellow. You fucking asshole."_

 _I stared at her, struggling to understand why she was cursing me, then I remembered the conversation the two men had had earlier._

 _They'd used me to get her pregnant._

 _They were breeding mutants._

" _Oh," I breathed as I stared at her, "I…I'm sorry."_

" _FUCK YOU." She spat in reply._

 _My heart shuddered in my chest and I slumped against the bars. The weight of lonely isolation crashed in on me coupled with humiliating failure. Despite the crushing weight from my sorrow, depression, and loneliness it was her words that brought tears to my eyes._

" _I'm sorry," I choked out, "I'm sorry for everything. I just wanted to die."_

 _Across from me the albino female stopped her thrashing about and stared at me. She seemed taken aback by my statement._

 _What a sight I must be, slumped against the bars, skinny and shaking as I wept._

" _Hey," she whispered, "Man I'm sorry I was so harsh…hey are you okay?"_

 _I continued to sob, struggling to find some sort of reason to continue on, I fumbled with my chains before looping them around my neck after realizing I could._

 _I could still do it._

 _I could still die._

" _Hey stop, don't do that!" the female gasped._

 _I pulled my arms down, gagging as the chains tightened around my throat. But I only pulled down harder even after I'd dropped to my knees._

 _The pain of not being able to breathe was a twisted kind of bliss and I didn't want to stop._

" _Wanna die," I choked, tears still streaming down my cheeks._

" _Hey Stop!" she screamed at me, "PLEASE STOP. SOMEONE HELP."_

 _She flung herself forward, reaching through the bars in an act of desperation to reach me. Her fingers just briefly brushed my shoulders as I began to convulse._

" _STOP HIM," she screamed, "HE'S KILLING HIMSELF SOMEONE HELP."_

 _It was the last thing I remembered before blacking out. I woke with my head on something soft and coughed roughly as I opened my eyes._

" _Don't sit up," a female voice ordered, "you insane bastard."_

 _I groaned and stared up at the albino female from before. I tried to move again but a firm hand pushed me down without much effort. It was then that I realized my head was in her lap._

" _Wha-"I managed to rasp._

" _The idiots think I bonded to you or something," she muttered, "Just shut up okay?"_

 _I swallowed painfully but did as she asked. I must've slept after that because I was only vaguely aware of her muttering in annoyance. It would be days maybe even weeks before I was able to sit up again. This time I was chained in a way that I couldn't get the chains around my neck._

 _They obviously didn't want me to attempt to kill myself again. I'd learned that the female I'd been locked in a cage with was named Athena._

 _She seemed to have a sort of wildness to her that I couldn't help but admire. I on the other hand seemed to have lost the will to fight argue, or protest. Tony's death and my family's cruelty had in every sense of the word, broken me._

 _My spirit was shattered into a thousand pieces._

 _I'd stopped caring._

 _Athena on the other hand, after learning that she was in fact pregnant became if possible more volatile. She screamed and cursed at every human that dared approach our cage. They wouldn't beat her though for her acting out; they didn't want to risk a miscarriage. Instead they dragged me out of the cage and beat me bloody until she begged for them to leave me alone and promised to behave._

 _I didn't mind the beatings; in some sort of twisted way it made me feel alive._

 _It wasn't until Athena's pregnancy started to show that something inside me clicked into place. That I suddenly seemed to realize that if I didn't do something my child would grow up a slave. That that child, my child, would be taken from its parents and SOLD to someone who would keep it as a pet or worse. The day that Athena was dragged out of our cage for another exam in front of our owner was the day that something in me snapped._

 _Something inside me woke up and I realized I needed to protect her._

 _I bolted from the cage with such force my chains broke and slammed head first into our main tormentor. Athena's screams behind me were my only warning before the gunshot sent me staggering backward._

" _Son of a bitch, it's gone insane," another man sputtered._

 _I only vaguely remember gritting my teeth and charging the man with the gun. I was shot twice more before I reached the man with the gun and tackled him. The world seemed to slow and blur as I began to repeatedly punch the man. Sharp focus only returned after I was dragged off the man and punched in the face twice. I vaguely remember crumpling to the floor, head in my hands, as I coughed roughly. It was then that they started a full on assault against me._

 _I tied and then was beaten bloody, before they left me lying broken in a corner for dead._

 _But I wasn't dead, I lost consciousness for a while but when I woke up I heard Athena screaming in the distance. It was as I was struggling to sit up that I caught sight of one of our captors preparing to rape her after tying her up._

 _He was laughing and slapping her._

 _Calling her a freak, telling her it was the best she was ever going to get, and telling her that she was being sold to someone else soon._

 _Everything blurred to red as I stood._

 _Athena and I might not care much for each other, but she was carrying my child, and I would not tolerate her being harmed._

 _The beast had awoken and he was livid._

 _I screamed, almost roared, and felt what was left of my tormented mind shatter as I charged the man. In the blur of the next few minutes I was only vaguely aware of the fact that I was covered in another man's blood, that I had murdered him, no…I had slaughtered him._

 _When I turned to see Athena she was staring at me with a look of shock, horror, and relief._

" _You're alive," she gasped._

 _I could only nod, trembling from the high of the fight and the weakness from blood loss that was threatening my collapse. She nervously stood and approached me as if I were some sort of wild beast._

" _I knew there was a warrior somewhere in you," she whispered softly, nervously touching my face before stepping away and getting the keys from the remains of the man at my feet._

 _I heard nervous whispers and turned to see other mutants in more cages around us. Athena released them all and I lead them out with Athena's hand gripped firmly in mine._

 _Together we burned the building to the ground before disappearing into the corners of the city. I planned to stay with Athena since in a twisted sort of way we gave each other a reason for living. Or rather the child she carried did._

 _But we didn't stay together long, not even a week before I disappeared from her life._

 _I was cornered not long after I found her a safe place to hide by a group of extremists that worked for our former owner. Despite my best efforts, I was subdued, beaten, then set on fire and left to die._

 _My tongue cut out as a warning to any of the mutants that had escaped to keep silent about their owner._

 _I woke six months later from a coma to find Shelly at my side._

 _And for a time the beast slept._

 _When it was released again years later, extremists were found slaughtered in their homes._

 _Underground slave compounds full of mutants were burned to the ground and the mutants were released._

 _And Henry Baldwin was reintroduced to the mutant he thought had been killed before he died._

 _Ao Akuma became the leader of New York's underground._

 _Blood and Fire had birthed me._

Leo stood, stumbling as his bad leg shuddered under his weight. Even so he limped forward to his desk and picked up the mask there before staring into its eyes. There was a soft knock on his door.

"Leo? Are you okay?" Shelly asked as she stepped in.

She gasped at the look he gave her before setting the mask down.

The beast was awake and Leo looked every bit like he'd kill her if she made a sound. Shelly covered her mouth in shock. Because the kind and gentle Leo she knew was gone in this moment. Instead was the warrior she'd heard rumors about.

Ao Akuma, the Blue Devil of New York City's streets.

After a moment she took a nervous step into the room before again whispering his name. Leo grunted and this time when he looked up at her she saw the mutant that had been her friend for nearly ten years. She relaxed slightly and watched him move around the room. He was gathering up his armor and laying it out on his desk in pieces. Along with it was a large and rather impressive leg brace that appeared to be designed to both support his leg as well as allow for easy maneuverability.

"Leo?" she asked softly.

He signed out a reply without looking at her.

 _If you still want to come along, get ready. I leave in an hour._

"Okay, I'll go change but Leo you looked…different," she murmured.

Leo looked over to her and sighed softly. His gaze was gentle, almost comforting as he limped over to her and pulled her into a hug. He gave her an affectionate nuzzle before limping back over to his desk, sitting in the chair there, and opening the brace before fitting it around his leg.

Shelly left the room feeling both confused and worried.

It seemed that Leo had more secrets than he'd ever hinted at and that scared her a little.

Across town Casey Jones was staring at the metal hockey mask he wore for special occasions. It was his only real piece of armor and April had gotten it for him years ago when they were still dating. In one hand he was holding the phone with a recent text from Donatello stating he couldn't get there to help him because something at work had come up. An older text was a warning from Raphael that the cops were going to be breaking up the fight tonight. Casey sighed heavily before frowning in concern. If he didn't show up to the challenged match tonight not only would Ao Akuma show up in his home, but the section leader would no doubt blame him for the raid on the fight in the first place. Which settled the issue, he had to go, if nothing else to attempt to warn the Section Leader in hopes of garnering favor from the fierce fighter. Casey sighed heavily before putting his mask on and shouldering the battered golf bag full of his chosen weapons. He walked out of the storage room and glanced up the stairs towards where the kids were with April. With a sigh he quickly left the building and started walking towards some of the winding back streets that would take him to the place he needed to be. When he entered the abandoned building it was dead silent except the soft sound of a young girl singing. Casey followed the girl's voice cautiously, each step a nervous one until he entered a large open room where a young turtle mutant girl was dancing and singing by herself. He didn't see the other mutant at first but when he did he gasped out in awe.

She was sitting on a table watching the young girl dance. Her skin was pure white behind the layers of black armor on her arms, legs, and throat. Aside from the armor she was wearing a blood red evening gown with shoulder holsters for two guns, holsters for two smaller guns and sheaths for knives around her thighs, and a mask/helmet combination that was a stereotypical Greek headpiece complete with the red Mohawk on top.

She looked as beautiful as she looked deadly.

This was Tempest.

She was as well-known off the streets as she was on them and was one of the section leaders for the underground fighting rings. She controlled all of the docks and ports around New York harbor. The little girl had stopped singing and was watching Casey who was looking between the female warrior and the small child with a mix of concern and curiosity.

"Do you love your children Mr. Jones?" Tempest inquired without turning her head.

"It's that human isn't it," the girl asked, cocking her head and watching Casey with a slight frown.

It was then that Casey got a look at the girl's eyes and he gasped again in recognition. The young girl's eyes were golden brown and had the same distinctive look of cautious calculation that Leonardo had always given new people. Casey swallowed before looking again at the armor clad female mutant on the table and saw she was now watching him.

"Yes," he finally answered, shivering a little at the red eyes peering out at him, "I love my children. I'd die before I let someone hurt them."

He finished his answer with a statement laced with a threat hoping to make it clear that he didn't want his family brought into this. Tempest laughed and stood, her black, calf-high, boots clicking on the cement as she approached him.

"Mom-" the girl started.

"Hush Enyo," Tempest scolded softly, "Adults need to discuss things go back to your playing."

The girl scoffed, stuck her tongue out at Casey, and then retreated further across the room. Tempest chuckled softly before returning her attention to Casey.

"I see you got the invitation," she stated with a hint of a smirk evident in her voice.

"I thought I was uh…fighting Akuma. No offence but-" Casey started

Tempest laughed, it was a surprisingly sweet sound, and despite the female mutant's vicious presence Casey felt himself relax slightly.

"You weren't invited to fight Akuma, although that would be interesting, you _Vigilante_ were invited here for another reason all together," she stated once her laughter ceased.

"I don't understand…wait how did you only the Purple Dragons called me that," Casey asked, tensing with concern.

"Oh yes, they did call you that, but so did four others, brothers you knew," she replied, "green used ninja weapons? Ring a bell?"

"The Hamatos yeah what does this have to do with them?" he grunted out.

"Everything," Tempest replied, before turning away and gesturing for him to follow, "You helped keep the streets clean of scoundrels years ago when the Hamatos were still fighting crime. Every mutant knows their names, some were even blessed to know one of them."

"Leo?" Casey asked bluntly before looking towards the girl, "She is his daughter isn't she?"

He looked back at Tempest who didn't reply right away, but instead removed her helmet, revealing her terrapin features.

"You've got a good eye," she complimented, "How did you know she was his?"

"Same attitude…same eyes," Casey murmured, "Do you know where he is?"

Tempest looked saddened by his question and sighed heavily.

"Last I knew he was left for dead by a group of extremists," she replied, "But that is not why you are here. We, the section leaders wanted to invite you to join us."

Casey frowned both at her statement about Leonardo and her request.

"Join you? I want nothing to do with gangs," Casey scoffed, then paused, "By the way you might want to get the girl out of here before the cop get here. It wasn't me, but someone leaked that there was-"

"Going to be a major fight? That Akuma would be present?" Tempest interrupted with a smirk, "Do you honestly think I let my daughter into the fights?"

Casey blinked in surprise.

"I…honestly…wasn't sure," Casey replied softly, turning to watch the girl as she began building something akin to a fort from the scattered debris around them.

"We staged the fight that the cops will be crashing, they will get roughed up a bit but no one should be seriously injured unless they are idiots and provoke it," Tempest explained.

"Oh," Casey replied after a moment then frowned, "Even so…I don't associate with gangs."

Tempest smirked again, cocking her hip as she shook her head.

"We are not a gang, nor a collective of gangs. We are more appropriately an army," Tempest replied, then with a shrug, "For a lack of another word. Our core missive is to eradicate the underground mutant slave trade and for that we have warriors, lawyers, bankers, and government officials all backing us. The street fighting is a cover which helps us keep the idiots off the streets and pay for the lawyers who are helping us."

"You might want to start from the beginning," Casey mumbled feeling more than a little confused.

Tempest chuckled in reply before nodding.

Blocks away Raphael prepared to enter the site where the fight was supposed to be, wearing full combat gear and ready for the worst. He was praying that Casey had gotten out of there already or at least had the sense to get out the second the cops "knocked on the door" of the establishment. Inside that building Ao Akuma stood with a dozen or so of his warriors partaking in a light sparing match while they waited for the cops to break in. Shelly was waiting in a car down the block for Leo to return, hoping that he didn't get hurt.

It was going to be a long night.

 **A/N: Now we're getting to the fun stuff. Muhahaaa Oh Raphie be careful… Please leave me a review guys!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the TMNT but Shelly and other side characters used in this fic are owned solely by myself.

 **Note:** I base my writings off of the Classic TMNT comics and/or 2k3 Cartoon series. Any reference to something being wrong that has to do with the Classic toons or 2k12/Nickelodeon series will be ignored.

 **For those of you who read the** _ **What We Hide**_ **series, here at last is the alternate storyline. This was the original storyline for** _ **What We Hide**_ **but was scrapped due to how dark it was. This is not a happy story, it is dark, twisted, and explores a side of Leo not usually mentioned. Tony will make a short appearance but not in the way you will expect. Sit back, buckle up, and get ready for the darkest story I've ever written; a story of loss, revenge, and brutality unlike any other.**

 _"Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides." -Junichiro Tanizaki_

 **Chapter 7**

Raphael was tense as a spring waiting for the orders to enter the building; he turned off the safety on his gun as he leaned against the wall, watching the door and his superior. Around him, there was nervous shuffling from the other cops and detectives. No one had dared to go up against the Section Leaders before now. As a result, there were multiple squads around the door, including SWAT teams preparing to enter from the back. Raphael was one of the first positioned to enter the building from the front, due to his past experience in combat. He would be lying if he claimed he were not a bit twitchy with nervous anticipation and a hint of dread. He hadn't been in combat since his last week in Afghanistan, and that had been one hell of a week. The last time he'd been in a situation like this, he hadn't been fast enough to stop one of the newer recruits from getting killed right in front of him. Needless to say, Raphael was more nervous about entering the den of the most notorious fighter on New York's streets than he would ever admit.

Suddenly, the signal was given to breach the doors; Raphael bolted inside as someone opened it for him, darting to a protected wall and looking into the main area before proceeding. Others filed in behind him, taking up space on either side of the entryway. There was a pause before they all moved into the main room. Standing in the room, apparently waiting for them, were a dozen or so warriors, all in different variations of what appeared to be bored stances. Each was armed to the teeth with various weapons, and all wore black Hannya demon masks, with a blue piece of fabric somewhere on their person.

"Shit," someone to the left of Raphael muttered, "It's Akuma's Elites. _Dammit_."

Raphael grunted as he eyed the warriors. Each of them looked like they were ready to move, but it seemed that they were waiting for some sort of signal. As Raphael aimed for the figure in the middle of the group, who seemed to have the most authority, SWAT entered from the back of the building and fanned out to block the exit.

"Drop your weapons, and put your hands above your head," the police chief ordered, "Nobody needs to get hurt!"

The warrior that Raphael was aiming at started laughing, as if the order or the statement preceding it were hilarious. The other warriors seemed to chuckle softly as well, and suddenly there was a distinctive sound of bolts sliding on metal doors.

"You might want to leave a rear guard next time," the warrior snickered.

"Shit," Raphael hissed, turning slightly to see two warriors now guarding their rear.

Several of the members of SWAT seemed to have noticed the same thing. Raphael cursed under his breath as he turned back and saw the chief glaring in frustration.

"You must be Ao Akuma," the chief accused.

"Me? No," the warrior laughed before stepping aside to show the seated figure of another warrior, "I'm no devil."

The warrior that was seated was wearing all of the same black gear, except his Hannya mask was deep blue, and the eyes of the mask glinted red. Raphael felt a shiver pass through him. It wasn't from fear, though, but rather anticipation for the fight he knew was about to commence. One look at this warrior and you knew he meant business. The blue-masked warrior simply tipped his head to one side, then pointed at the chief. Raphael tensed, then grunted as Ao Akuma dropped his hand to his side. The tension was so thick in the room that it was almost palpable.

Then, they all moved like lightening. Gunfire rang out around Raphael before he could react as the cops were charged by each of the warriors in front of them. The only one who didn't draw his weapons was the one with the blue mask. Raphael gasped as the Section Leader known only as Ao Akuma flipped up and over the charging cop who had attempted to tackle him to the ground. The motion was so precise that Raphael was shocked at the resulting awkward landing on one leg. That's when he saw the swords. Two katana bound across the warrior's back with the hilts tipped to the left shoulder. The next thing Raphael knew he was watching that black clad warrior move with the lethal grace his brother once had. Well almost, this warrior was moving almost _too_ fast and as a result was wide open for being easily unbalanced. Raphael grunted, shifted into a ninjitsu stance that would allow him to slip into the fight and take control of the situation while holstering his gun. But there was something bothering him as he rose onto the balls of his feet.

Why wasn't Ao Akuma unsheathing his swords?

Why wasn't a warrior known for his bloody tendencies simply slaughtering the cops who were attempting to take him down?

Raphael pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he spotted an opening and jumped in shoving the fumbling officer who had been attempting to grab a hold of Ao Akuma out of the way as he blocked a downward strike. This seemed to startle the warrior who stumbled back as Raphael threw a series of punches to unbalance Ao Akuma. Then with an almost surreal familiarity Ao Akuma began to match every one of Raphael's moves. Raphael found himself pushing the warrior across the room with each blow and then stumbling backwards as he was pushed back as well. It was a twisted sort of dance with fists and loud grunts each blow a combination of both hesitant and brutal assault. They continued to weave together and block each blow until Ao Akuma landed an awkward kick to Raphael's stomach sending him tumbling back. Before anyone else could react Ao Akuma bolted up the stairs. Raphael snarled in annoyance before scrambling to his feet and following after the warrior. There was shouting behind him as the other cops tried to decide which of the retreating warriors to follow. At least one had already gotten away. But Raphael was charging after Ao Akuma with a nagging sense of familiarity hovering in the back of his mind that he couldn't shake. As he rounded the corner at the top of the stairs he stopped and slowly looked around, gun again at the ready as he listened for movement. He slowly moved down the hall, pausing to glance inside the adjoining rooms before passing them. Then he tensed as he heard the floor creak behind him and wiped around gun raised to see Ao Akuma only a few feet away with a small knife ready to throw. Neither moved for what seemed like an eternity then Ao Akuma threw the blade directly at Raphael's gun as if to disarm him. Raphael moved just in time before he found himself tumbling backward in shock.

"Jesus, you're fast, you bastard," Raphael sputtered.

Ao Akuma only gave a muffled chuckle in reply before darting to the side with an awkward spin as Raphael took aim. They collided momentarily as Ao Akuma attempted to slap away the gun and Raphael lost his grip on it. The gun clattered to the ground as Raphael was forced to use his hands to block another blow before he whirled away and started to dive for the gun.

There was the sensation of cold steel pressing against Raphael's throat for a brief moment, before he managed to twist out of the hold after grabbing the wrist of the person who was pinning him and flipping them over his shoulders. As he pulled his attacker over his shoulder he threw his weight into forcing them to the ground. There was a muffled and somewhat strangled grunt as a result from the black clad warrior as they hit the floor. Raphael heaved a shuddering breath and twisted upward as fast as he could, trying to beat the warrior to his feet. Ao Akuma had apparently been stunned by the impact with the ground and was just now starting to roll onto his stomach to sit up. The warrior shook his head as if to clear it just as Raphael was rising into a crouch. Ao Akuma's soft grunt was the only warning Raphael had before something very solid connected with the side of his head and sent him to his knees with a moan of pain. Out of reflex he grabbed a hold of the thing that hit him and found it was some sort of metal wrapped in cloth. Raphael opened his eyes after shaking his head and struggling to get his bearings back to see that he was gripping Ao Akuma's leg in an iron grip. The other warrior was in the process of sitting up, and Raphael realized a second too late, throwing a punch at him. Raphael tasted blood as he bit down onto his tongue and yelped in surprise but remembered he still had a hold of Ao Akuma's leg and twisted it in a desperate attempt to gain the upper hand. A strangled scream alerted him to the damage he'd done. Raphael grappled with the suddenly squirming figure, yelping again in surprise despite his pride as he was suddenly straddled and pinned as he lost his grip on Ao Akuma's leg. Raphael gasped as hands closed around his throat and frantically kicked and bucked as he clawed at the warrior's hands. He was cursing as he got a few breaths in and managed to get a hold of Ao Akuma's mask. A solid punch across his face nearly caused Raphael to let go momentarily. Ao Akuma had managed to get himself firmly on top of the still twisting, bucking, and thrashing detective and wasn't about to let go. He knew who this was and while Raphael didn't know it, Ao Akuma wasn't planning on killing him; just knocking him out and giving him an ass kicking for the attack on his leg. Just then Raphael's frantic attempts to beat him back had a brief and rather startling moment of success; his fingers caught the latch that held the front half of Ao Akuma's mask in place, and in a moment of desperation Raphael tore the mask away. Ao Akuma froze in shock as the mask clattered to the ground, unable to stop it without letting go of Raphael's throat. Raphael's eyes flung wide in shock and he stopped his thrashing. A black cloth mask covered everything but Ao Akuma's eyes, even so, _those_ eyes, well the one that was foggy-white from blindness, were Leo's eyes.

Ao Akuma was Leonardo.

As Ao Akuma's grip loosened Raphael choked out a name he could barely believe he was saying.

" _LEO?_ " Raphael sputtered and coughed, staring in shock at his brother's blank expression above him.

For a split second neither of them moved then before Raphael could block it Leo smashed his forehead down into Raphael's instantly stunning the detective. Leo released Raphael's throat, formed a fist, and landed two hard punches across Raphael's face successfully leaving the second eldest Hamato too stunned to move. Leo scrambled to his feet, pausing only to check Raphael's pulse before starting to move away in search for an exit. His back was turned towards the entryway of the room when he heard the click of a gun.

"Freeze!" a woman ordered.

Leo twitched to a stop, just barely stopping himself from turning as he remembered that his face was no longer covered by the Ao Akuma mask. Raphael was groaning and rolling onto his side as he shook his head to clear it. Leo gritted his teeth and eyed the only other exit.

A window that emptied out to a sidewalk below him and he was on the second floor. There was another warehouse beside this one though and a slim chance he could make the jump if he got enough momentum.

Either risk a jump, a gun, or being seen.

 _Damn you Raphael._

"Turn around and put your hands above your head," the woman ordered, "Now."

Raphael had just managed to clear his head and saw the other officer with the gun pointed at Leo's back and Leo's subtle movements into what could only be described as preparation to run for it.

"No," Raphael rasped, "Don't you fucking move asshole."

Leo's head twitched towards him slightly as if startled but he didn't fully turn around. Raphael started to rise to his feet and the woman gave him a bewildered look as if not sure what to make of it.

"Officer Hamato, stay down," she ordered taking her eyes off of Leo for half a second.

Leo growled and then in one fluid motion braced then bolted for the window, limping heavily but still gathering speed. The officer fired a warning shot as she shouted for him to stop. Just as Raphael surged fully to his feet who with stumbling steps he bolted after the black clad warrior in a moment of frantic panic to prevent him from being fatally wounded. Raphael's hand brushed Leo's shirt just before the second shot went off and he heard a pained grunt. Leo smashed through the window seconds later and Raphael barely stopped in time to prevent himself from tumbling to the ground below. Broken glass flew everywhere as Leo used the last of his strength to launch himself towards the window of the warehouse next door.

He just barely made it.

As he slammed into the next window more glass cut into his arms when he raised them to shield his face. He crumpled and rolled as he hit the ground biting back screams of pain as he landed on his bad leg and felt the already damaged brace shudder and snap from the force of the impact. As he rolled to a stop Leo slowly rose to his feet, hissing in pain as he struggled to limp away. Raphael watched the whole incident with a shocked expression as the officer behind him shouted and cursed him for making her miss the shot. He was bleeding badly from multiple injuries, one of which was a gunshot wound from a bullet that had punched through the muscle of his upper left arm. Raphael slumped against the wall after he saw the shadowy figure of his brother stagger to his feet and retreat.

Leonardo had made it.

A thousand questions bubbled up in Raphael's mind but he pushed them aside before turning towards the female officer who was berating him loudly.

"Nancy shut the fuck up," Raphael snarled at the woman.

She froze, eyes widening, jaw open in shock at his harsh command.

"How dare-" she started.

"Pulling a gun on a criminal as bad as they say Ao Akuma is? You're lucky he retreated instead of killing you. Fuck I'm lucky he didn't kill me," Raphael spat.

"I had things under control! I could've injured him enough to take him down!" she spat in reply, bristling in anger.

"And what if you missed your mark? If you would've killed him, the fucking _leader_ of a street organization we don't know much about, what do you think would've happened?" Raphael snarled.

Nancy paled a little.

"Exactly," Raphael snapped, before storming away from her, taking the time to quickly snatch up the mask he'd torn off his brother's face and stowing it in his jacket before the other officer saw it. As far as she knew he'd just been reaching down to retrieve his gun.

He grimaced as he left the room and entered the hallway where two other officers were rushing up the stairs. A panicked screech from his partner at the sight of him was Raphael's first clue as to how badly he was busted up, the next clue was when the paramedic asked him how he was conscious, needless to say he was rushed to the hospital to get checked over after giving his statement of what had happened.

It took more stitches than Raphael was willing to admit to sew him back together, a sling for his left arm due to the muscle damage and his sprained wrist, as well as both a CT Scan and a MRI to make sure he didn't have any serious damage to his skull or jaw. It was mostly just bruising, some of which was to the bone, but thankfully he'd escaped without any breaks or fractures. He did have a concussion though and was on strict orders to stay awake or have someone wake him up every hour or so until the rest of the swelling had gone down.

By the time they finally let him go home it was nearly 5am and even then someone drove him to prevent him from trying to drive himself home.

Raphael sighed as he fumbled with the keys to the door of the apartment he and Marina shared with Mike and Angel. As he finally got the door open Raphael hissed in pain after bumping his left arm into the doorframe.

"Dammit," he muttered, grabbing the limb for a moment before slipping into the apartment and closing the door behind him.

"Holy shit, what happened to you?" Michaelangelo gasped as Raphael slowly turned to look at him.

"You really want to know?" Raphael grunted with an annoyed tone behind his question.

"Yes…especially since I just moved Marina to your guys' bed after she fell asleep out here waiting," Michaelangelo replied curtly.

Raphael winced, this time from the knowledge that he had worried his fiancée.

"Leo kicked my ass," Raphael replied flatly before pulling Leo's Ao Akuma mask from his jacket and tossing it at his brother.

"What?" Michaelangelo sputtered as he caught the mask and stared down at it, "Wait…is this? This is…holy shit…you mean?"

Raphael had moved into the kitchen and was looking for food as Michaelangelo struggled to form sentences.

"Yeah," Raphael sighed, "Ao Akuma is Leo."

"Shit," Michaelangelo cursed softly then glanced down at the mask, "You saw his face? How…how did he look?"

"Pissed," Raphael replied as he filled a glass with water.

"I mean-"Michaelangelo started.

"I know what you meant," Raphael cut off, "He pretty much did everything he could to make sure I didn't get a good look at him. But it was him."

"Damn, when you mean everything… _he_ did all this to you?" Michaelangelo asked as he gestured to the multiple bandages and the sling adorning his older brother's frame.

Raphael looked at him with an annoyed sigh. The entire left side of his face was bruised, his left eye swollen shut, his throat dark with bruising, his left arm wrapped in bandages while in a sling, and although it wasn't visible his ribs were tapped as well. That was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

He was going to be sore in the morning.

Raphael nodded and sighed, leaning against the counter gingerly.

"I hurt him too though, I think I broke his leg or at least damaged it," Raphael sighed, "He screamed when I grabbed it to stop him."

Michaelangelo flinched before looking again at the mask in his hands. There was a mixture of shock and sorrow on his face as he traced the fanged smile on the mask.

"There's another thing I'm worried about," Raphael sighed staring at the mask in his younger brother's hands, "the idiot officer who shot me in the shoulder…I think they hit him too. He jumped out a fucking _window_ after it and I saw him get up but I couldn't see him well enough to be sure he was okay."

Michaelangelo frowned with concern and sighed heavily still fiddling with the mask in his hands.

"Did…did you tell anyone you recognized him?" Michaelangelo asked cautiously without looking up.

"No," Raphael replied flatly, "I…I didn't think our first conversation after ten years would start out well with me arresting him."

Michaelangelo snickered a bit at that before sinking into a chair after moving over to the table. Neither brother spoke for a while both seemed to be struggling with what they had learned but Raphael sank into a chair across from the youngest Hamato. After a moment Michaelangelo placed the mask on the table with a shudder and cleared his throat before eyeing Raphael. The older turtle looked exhausted and he was in obvious pain but seemed to be trying to hide it.

"You're going to have to wake me up every hour or so," Raphael sighed finally before reaching in the pocket of his jacket and pulling out his phone.

He paused, reached back into his jacket and blinked in confusion before pulling his hand out again. He checked the other pocket, then his pant pockets after standing back up, and then let out a string of curses that would've curled Splinter's whiskers if he were still alive. Michaelangelo gave his brother a confused look.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"That sonofabitch stole my badge!" Raphael snarled after frantically rechecking each pocket.

A slow grin spread across Michaelangelo's face before he burst into uncontrolled but frantically suppressed laughter.

Meanwhile across town Shelly was struggling to help Leo up the stairs and into their apartment. He was barely conscious and unable to put weight on his right leg which only slowed their progress up the stairs to agonizing stillness. Leo was breathing in erratic, pained, breaths as he leaned heavily against Shelly.

"One more step," she urged gently, "you can do it."

He struggled to move his bad leg once more and eased some weight onto it as he gripped the railing on the wall beside them; then let out a strained whimper as his leg buckled causing his weight to crash down on her. Shelly gasped in surprise and pain while she struggled to maintain her grip on him.

"Leo?" she hissed frantically, "Leo…dammit I can't lift you. Just a little farther please!"

He groaned and seemed to struggle to answer her plea. His hand clenched around the railing and he gave a pained grunt as he heaved himself upward to make it past the last step. Shelly gripped him around the waist and pulled with all her strength just managing to help him clear the step as they both stumbled onto the landing. Shelly gripped Leo's belt and dragged him best she could towards the door of their apartment as he stumbled along while leaning against her. Shelly scrambled to open the door as Leo continued to slump more and more against her.

"Leo stay awake," Shelly ordered as she pushed the door open

Leo groaned as he struggled to remain upright. He only managed to stay conscious long enough for Shelly to get him inside but crumpled against the stand by the door as he got inside. Shelly gave a panicked squeak as he fell out of her grip despite her attempts to prevent it. Leo crashed into the stand then dropped like a stone to the ground with a pained grunt.

"Leo? Still with me?" Shelly asked, "You better stay awake."

He remained limp on the ground but gave a wordless moan at Shelly's inquiry to indicate he was still awake abet barely. Shelly closed the door before grabbing Leo and helping him sit up. He hissed in pain when Shelly gripped his shoulder to help him up. When she pulled her hand away there was blood.

"Shit," Shelly cursed softly, "Dammit Leo! Were you shot? What the hell?"

Leo signed something weakly but Shelly wasn't able to interpret it. She cursed under her breath softly before darting down the hallway towards a hall closet and yanking it open to pull out a First Aid kit. She grabbed a set of spare sheets and a towel as well before rushing back to Leo's slumped figure. He'd gotten very pale and was trembling weakly; each breath seemed to be more of a struggle than the previous.

"Stay awake you sonofabitch," Shelly spat, "You owe me!"

Leo lifted his head weakly and managed a chuckle but he weakly pushed something into her hand. He leaned his head back into the stand by the door afterward as if it had taken all of his strength. Shelly looked down to see the crumpled paper he'd been holding with a number on it written in his own blood. There was also a detective's badge beside it.

"Do you want me to call this person?" Shelly demanded, "Shit Leo?"

She shook him gently but cursed when she realized he was unconscious. She stared at the number then groaned in frustration. She needed help, but what she needed wasn't a cop. She needed a surgeon. She muttered a prayer under her breath as she scrambled to find her phone and dialed out a number with frantic fingers.

"Please be able to help me," Shelly breathed as the phone rang and she began pulling Leo's gear off in order to get to his injuries better.

She had cut his shirt and pants off of him and was tying a tourniquet around his shoulder as best she could when there was an answer on the other line.

 _Hello?_

"Oh thank God, I know this is kind of insane but I need your help," Shelly begged while lying as convincingly as she could, "Leo…he…was mugged and bleeding like crazy. I can't patch him up I just need some help with his shoulder. We can't afford an ER visit."

There was silence on the other line for a stretch of moments that felt like eternity.

 _Give me your address I'll be there as fast as I can. Keep him warm._

Shelly rattled off her address and sobbed as the line went dead. But she worked fast after cutting his gear away she threw it into his room while grabbing clean clothing for him. She had said that Leo was mugged it wouldn't make sense for him to be covered in armor but due to his injuries it would make sense to have cut away his clothing so she did so. Shelly was busy pulling slivers of glass out of Leo's forearms when there was knock on the door and for a moment her heart stopped before she remembered that she had called for help. Leo groaned and moved slightly as if the knock on the door had roused him.

Either that or the pain he was in.

Shelly got up and opened the door slowly letting out a relieved breath when she saw who it was.

"Thank you Donnie," she whispered as opened the door to let him in.

Donatello stepped into the apartment and shuddered to a stop at the sight of Leo propped against the stand by the door with makeshift bandages and tourniquets on his arms and legs.

"Holy shit…you said he was mugged!" Donatello sputtered, then after dropping to one knee and reaching forward to check Leo's pulse he muttered something under his breath.

"I couldn't move him," Shelly explained, "I'm not strong enough to lift him on my own. We can barely afford his therapy sessions I can't cover an ER fee."

Donatello dropped down into a squat and checked Leo's pulse then quickly pulled his coat off before rolling his sleeves up.

"Boil water, needles, and thread," Donatello ordered, "We've gotta move fast."

Shelly dashed off to do as ordered while Donatello pulled Leo's left arm over his shoulders, gripped Leo around the waist, and heaved him upward. A whimper followed by a moan was the only response from the semiconscious figure. Donatello got him to the couch then maneuvered Leo onto it before returning for the first aid kit. Only after Donatello had moved Leo did he think to have put the towels under the injured mutant. He shook his head as if trying to clear his head of the guilt from unintentionally ruining the couch; he'd replace it if it couldn't be cleaned. After snagging the First Aid kit, towels, and sheets that had been beside Leo before he arrived Donatello dropped down next to the couch and began to tear the sheets into strips praying that had been Shelly's intention in the first place. Shelly dropped down beside him with the freshly boiled needles and thread as well as two bowls of water and one empty one. One was soapy and the other clear and obviously intended to be used for cleaning Leo's injuries; the third could only be for the glass.

"Do you have anything we could use for a transfusion? Even just a thin tube?" Donatello asked, "And do you know his blood type?"

Shelly sat up for a moment then winced and nodded.

"Leo was going to set up a fish tank in his room, there's a tube in the kit he hasn't pulled out of the plastic packaging yet," Shelly offered.

Donatello frowned then nodded.

"I might be able to make that work go grab it," he ordered before dipping one of the towels into the bowl of soapy water and beginning to clean the blood off of Leo.

As he did so he gently pulled pieces of broken glass out of the skin and dropped them into the empty bowl. Leo groaned ad stirred but Donatello placed a firm hand down on the battered mutant's frame to prevent him from moving. Shelly returned just as Donatello was finishing up cleaning Leo's arms. She switched out the bowls for fresh water as Donatello began stitching up the injuries. It would take them the better half of the nest two hours to finish cleaning Leo up and stitching his injuries. By the time they had finished that Shelly was hovering over her friend as Donatello tried to figure a way to turn the thin tube Shelly had given him into an effective means of getting Leo a much needed transfusion. After much discussion over it they had decided Donatello would give the blood; although Shelly had a better blood type match her warm blooded cells being introduced into Leo's cold blooded body ran the risk of causing shock. Even though Donatello's blood type was not as ideal he was at least the same species. Donatello was grumbling as he pulled apart two hypodermic needles that had been in the First Aid kit. Shelly's kit was well stocked and with what gauze she had plus the torn up sheets they had managed to wrap Leo's injuries well enough to hopefully stave off infection. Donatello grunted in relief as he got the needle tips into the ends of the tube and was thankful they had already sterilized the pieces.

"Are you sure about this?" Shelly asked as she glanced down at Leo's pale frame.

"Yeah," Donatello sighed, "Okay help me here."

Donatello maneuvered himself over so that he was sitting directly next to Leo and placed his arm beside Leo's while Shelly cleaned his inner arm and then Leo's between the bandages. Shelly took over from there tying a tourniquet to make Donatello's veins show in his arm before quickly pinching the tube in the middle as she inserted the needle. Out of the corner of her eyes she noticed the scars around Donatello's wrist then also on his other. Questions bubbled up but she decided that now was most definitely not the best time. Leo stirred as she slid the other needle into his vein and released the pinched middle. Almost immediately as Donatello's blood mixed with Leo's color began to return to the injured mutant's face. He groaned and stirred more but froze when Donatello clasped his hand firmly. Shelly retreated to grab some water for Donatello and to clean up the mess around her living room.

"Just rest," Donatello whispered as he gripped Leo's hand, "Dammit Leo. What did you do?"

Throughout the past few hours Donatello's suspicions had all but been confirmed as to Leo Lake's real identity. Even with the heavy scarring across his figure certain scars were still just barely visible. The cut under Leo's left eye from the rooftop fight with Raphael when they were nineteen, the scars on his inner arms from his suicide attempts before he disappeared, but the one that had convinced him had been the scar on Leo's carapace around his left shoulder; the scar that Leonardo had gotten when Karai stabbed him through the chest and nearly killed him.

Leo Lake was Hamato Leonardo.

Donatello didn't know how to respond to that information except to continue clutching his brother's hand and praying that he would somehow find the words to heal wounds that were unseen on the surface. Tonight was not the night though and for now he simply relished the fact that his older brother was in fact alive. Shelly returned and Donatello quickly released his brother's hand before she saw.

"Another minute or two should be enough for now," Donatello stated, "His pulse is getting stronger."

Shelly nodded in relief before sighing.

"Thank you for helping, I know it was sort of insane for me to ask this…I just didn't know who else I could trust," Shelly whispered.

Donatello nodded.

"I'm glad I was able to help," he replied softly.

They sat in silence watching Leo rest, both clinging to separate feelings of relief at the rise and fall of his chest. Shelly sighed and cleared her throat.

"Let me unhook you guys then I'll make you something to eat for your trouble," Shelly offered moving to undo the make-shift transition tube.

Donatello nodded wordlessly before allowing her to do the said task. She cleaned up everything else around him after bandaging both of the male mutant's arms and retreated to the kitchen. The sound of dishes and pans being washed in the kitchen caused Donatello to wince. He stood shakily, feeling slightly light headed, before following her. As he approached he cleared his throat so not to startle her.

"I can help if you want," he offered.

"No it's fine, go ahead and sit," she replied quickly offering a smile and then with a wince, "If you want Leo should have a clean shirt that might fit you."

Donatello looked confused then with a grimace he looked down to see his blood covered shirt.

"Ah um…yeah…I…probably shouldn't walk around town like this should I?" he laughed weakly.

Shelly chuckled.

"Give me just a second and I'll grab you one, he's particular about how he organizes things in his room," Shelly finished with a roll of her eyes.

But in reality she really didn't want Donatello to find the bloody armor she'd thrown in there earlier. Donatello snorted as if this statement greatly amused him while privately chuckling at the fact that Leonardo's obsession with keeping his room clean was still a reality. Even so Donatello didn't want to impose Shelly was already cleaning up the mess.

"But you are already-" Donatello started to protest.

"No don't worry about it, I need to grab some clean clothes myself," Shelly cut off.

"Then let me wash up everything," Donatello stated firmly but with a polite smile, "Go change and shower if you want I can do the dishes and keep an eye on Leo for a bit."

Shelly paused then with a sigh relented and allowed him to take over before dashing to her room. She wasn't gone long only about twenty minutes which allowed Donatello to finish cleaning up. When she returned she was wearing purple and yellow PJs while attempting to tame her hair with a frown while she had another shirt draped over her shoulder.

Donatello smiled privately at her chosen colors and awkwardly dropping into a crouch to check on Leo.

His brother.

He could still barely believe it and yet there was no denying it now.

Shelly offered him the clean shirt before checking on Leo herself as if to ease her own concerns. Donatello accepted the shirt and stood then without really thinking about it he pulled off his blood soaked shirt and briefly revealed the branding scar on his upper chest. Shelly saw it but held her tongue not wanting to upset him.

"Well I can scramble some eggs if you want for helping me," Shelly offered, "You could probably use the protein after giving blood."

Donatello chuckled and offered her a smile as he adjusted the shirt he was wearing then after seeing it held back a humored snort. The shirt was a light grey, but across the front were the words _I'm not arguing, I'm simply explaining why I am right_ in black. Shelly blinked at the shirt and snorted which caused Donatello to chuckle.

"I didn't even look at which one I grabbed," she laughed.

Donatello just smiled and shook his head. After shelly made them something to eat Donatello headed home immediately distressed at the sight of the black car he should've known would follow him.

Unintentionally he'd just lead Sullivan's men to Shelly and Leo's home and that terrified him more than he would ever admit. Back in the apartment Shelly had tossed a pile of blankets onto the floor beside the couch and after checking on Leo for the millionth time she settled onto her makeshift bed with a sigh she was asleep almost instantly. Leo stirred on the couch and groaned but remained asleep meanwhile in his room his phone vibrated across his desk and clattered to the ground.

 **A/N: Sorry for the** _ **Very**_ **delayed update guys, my work schedule changed and threw off my sleep cycle (which of course affected my energy levels and made me constantly tired). This chapter was meant to be longer but was bordering on insanity for length so I cut it short. Not to mention that it was way too much information for one chapter. So I hope you guys enjoyed this. Next chapter I'm not sure when it'll be up as I am getting ready to be away from home for 2 weeks. But I will be typing in my free time. Please leave me a review!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the TMNT but Shelly and other side characters used in this fic are owned solely by myself.

 **Note:** I base my writings off of the Classic TMNT comics and/or 2k3 Cartoon series. Any reference to something being wrong that has to do with the Classic toons or 2k12/Nickelodeon series will be ignored.

 **For those of you who read the** _ **What We Hide**_ **series, here at last is the alternate storyline. This was the original storyline for** _ **What We Hide**_ **but was scrapped due to how dark it was. This is not a happy story, it is dark, twisted, and explores a side of Leo not usually mentioned. Tony will make a short appearance but not in the way you will expect. Sit back, buckle up, and get ready for the darkest story I've ever written; a story of loss, revenge, and brutality unlike any other.**

 _"Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides." -Junichiro Tanizaki_

 **Chapter 8**

Standing in the window of a skyscraper across town, a slender woman with a tight fitting black dress suit, and a platinum blonde bob-styled haircut, stood looking out as she observed the activity of New York's night life below. She was holding a wine glass balanced loosely in one hand while smiling coldly. She cocked a hip and laughed dryly to herself as if greatly amused by a private thought. There was a soft cough from the doorway across the room. The woman scowled as if the cough was a great distraction and caused her great displeasure.

"What is it?" she demanded without turning.

"I brought you, your dinner ma'am," a nervous male voice replied.

"Put it on the table then leave…are you wearing your gloves?" she ended harshly.

"Yes ma'am and as per your request ma'am," the nervous male voice answered softly.

"Good, I don't want your filth on my food," she sneered without turning to watch the figure approach.

The sound of soft, mostly muffled footsteps, rippled across the room as a black and white mutant cat wearing a metal collar made his way to a small table. The tray clattered slightly as he placed the tray there, flinching as the woman made a noise of disgust at the sound, then with as much speed as he seemed to dare he retreated. The woman chuckled harshly as the mutant slipped out of the room before turning to the meal left behind.

"At least those ignorant beasts are good for something…some minor training does do brilliant work for their motivations," she laughed harshly before plucking up a grape off the plate and tossing it into her mouth. She picked up her phone off of the table and sent a message while smiling coldly.

Outside the room the mutant cat flinched and retreated further down the hallway, tugging nervously at his harsh, metal, collar as tears streamed down his face.

"May Ao Akuma destroy you someday witch," he choked out between tears, "…if it's the last thing I do I'll tell him about you!"

The woman remained within the room, and thankfully out of earshot, in order to watch the first rays of the sun brush the horizon.

Across town as the sun's rays flickered across the horizon Haniel was just leaving work looking far more ruffled and tired than seemed healthy. His phone buzzed in his pocket, and after glancing down to inquire as to who had sent the message, he returned the phone to his pocket without replying. A strange look flickered across his face as he attempted to hail a cab to go home; it seemed almost sad. After managing to get a cab to his place on the pavement he paused before entering it. This seemed to annoy the cabbie who had stopped for him who grumped about wasting time. As if he finally decided what to do he moved quickly into the cab and slipped into the back seat with a soft grunt that echoed with what could only be considered exhaustion. After telling the cabbie where to go he slumped in the back seat as his thumbs few across the screen of his phone while punching out a message. There was no reply to which Haniel simply sighed heavily before looking out the window tiredly.

It was well past nine am when Shelly woke to a knock on her door and heard an annoyed grunt from above her on the couch. She sat up to find Leo leaned back against the arm of the couch while staring at the TV. She turned and saw it was on mute with the subtitles on and realized that Leo had left the sound off so not to wake her. With a yawn she stretched before standing, secretly thanking her insight to sleep in a sports bra the night before rather than just her pajamas. She approached the door and after peering through the peephole she grinned and opened the door. Leo was warily watching the door and unbeknownst to Shelly he was reaching anxiously for a knife that he'd tucked between the pillows beside him earlier.

"Morning Haniel," she greeted as she stepped aside to let him in.

Leo shifted his weight and grunted painfully, every inch of his body ached with a deep rooted pain from the night before, that and exhaustion which was still lingering in the very fiber of his being. As Leo turned his attention to Haniel who was entering the apartment with a soft chuckle at Shelly's bedraggled appearance.

"Morning?" Haniel teased softly, his seafoam-green eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Hi," Shelly replied looking puzzled, "Not that it's not nice to see you Haniel but…how did you know where we lived?"

Haniel chuckled and pointed towards Leo who was looking down at his hands while blushing.

Marina sighed, rolled her eyes, and smiled.

"Well…I'll let you two hang out while I freshen up," she laughed before walking towards her room.

Leo made a muffled noise and Shelly noticed he was attempting to cover his chest and stomach with the blanket. She blinked then nodded to him as he briefly made eye contact. Leo was extremely sensitive about his scars and obviously wasn't ready to let Haniel see them fully.

"Haniel will you wait here for a moment," Shelly asked, "Going to grab something for Leo before I hop in the shower."

Haniel blinked in obvious surprise but nodded agreeably before offering Leo a smile. The fact that Leo was both covered in bandages and hunched over with the blanket covering most of his chest was not lost on the human. Leo was obviously uncomfortable but trying not to seem obvious about it. Shelly returned quickly with a battered blue hoodie and Leo's scarf. She remained standing in front of Leo while he pulled on the hoodie and Haniel patiently waited while looking at the various pictures on the stand by the door in order to give Leo's some privacy.

"Okay I'll be back in a few minutes," Shelly stated as she turned to walk away, "Also Haniel, Leo was mugged last night so don't let him get up without help."

Leo frowned and blushed at her statement and Haniel gave the mutant a concerned look accompanied by a soft gasp.

"W-What?" he sputtered but Shelly was already retreating to her room.

Leo ducked his head down in order to hide his face more effectively into his scarf and fumbled with the edges of his sleeves in obvious anxiety. Haniel stood stunned by the door for a moment and gave the, embarrassed, mutant a careful look over. Leo was in pain but obviously attempting to hide it and he looked more than a little pale.

"Well…apparently whatever party you went to last night did not end well," Haniel said finally with a teasing tone.

Leo stopped fumbling with his sleeves and blinked as if startled and he looked up at the frazzled man in the entryway with a muffled laugh. Leo signed out a reply after a moment.

 _Not quite a party._

Haniel chuckled then gestured to the chair opposite of Leo's reclining frame in a polite request to sit. Leo mirrored the gesture to the chair and nodded shyly. As Haniel sat he sighed and sank into the chair.

"Feels good to sit down," he explained after a moment, "But tell me are you okay? Nothing broken I'm guessing since you didn't come into the ER last night."

Leo just sighed and looked down at his hands before wincing. Shelly saved him from trying to answer.

"Not exactly," Shelly sighed from the hallway, "He was shot in the upper left side of his chest and…and his bag leg got twisted up pretty bad."

Haniel's head snapped toward Shelly so fast she heard the vertebrae crack.

"Shot?" he gasped, it came out higher than his normal voice, " _In the chest_? Why…why did you not-?"

"Like I said don't let him up without help," Shelly repeated then walked into the bathroom without any other answer.

"Jesus," Haniel sputtered, then at Leo's frown, "Sorry…are you...I didn't realize…"

Leo shook his head to indicate the answer to the unspoken question but signed out a reply with stiff movements.

 _It's just a matter of respect._

Haniel nodded, immediately sensing that it was a sensitive subject, but sighed heavily as he looked Leo over. The mutant was pale, looking almost sickly, and there were lines in his face that clearly stated he was in serious pain.

"Have you taken anything for the pain?" Haniel asked softly with concern in his voice.

Leo shook his head before wincing at the motion.

"Dammit how are you sitting up?" Haniel muttered as he tried to think of the best over-the-counter pain killers he could get.

There was nothing that would really help any more than taking the edge off but it would at least help _some_. Haniel looked Leo over again and cursed inwardly at the damage done to the rattled mutant. At first glance Leo seemed calm, but closer inspection made it obvious that he was equal parts tired and distressed.

"So I'm going to guess that you will not be up for going out to lunch so I will be back," Haniel stated as he stood, "text me what kind of sushi you want and what Shelly would like and I will be back in a flash."

He paused, waiting for Leo to look up at him and grinned at the shy smile that peeked out from behind Leo's scarf.

In another part of town Marina woke to the soft, muffled, snores coming from a very tired and battered looking Raphael who was sprawled beside her on the bed looking like something akin to a living punching bag. Bruises had bloomed across his neck and face with dark and vivid intensity. He was laying sprawled, nearly spread eagle, on his stomach with his face shoved into a pillow. Marina sat up slowly as to not disturb the slumbering warrior but sighed as she looked him over. He was still wearing his uniform and she spotted a sling tossed, with what must have been irritability, on the floor by the bedroom door. Marina watched Raphael for a moment, taking comfort in the slow rise and fall of his shell as he breathed. She even smiled a little as his fingers twitched in sleep and he grunted as he seemed to be dreaming. Marina reached over and gently stroked the side of his face before carefully moving to get out of the bed. The door opened slightly and she heard Michaelangelo's voice requesting entry.

"One second," Marina replied as she grabbed her robe and pulled it around her, then after turning towards the door hissed out softly, "Okay."

Michaelangelo stepped in after pushing the door open slowly, wincing as it creaked and Raphael jerked in his sleep, but carefully slid through the gap without any other noise. He smiled in greeting to Marina.

"What happened?" she asked softly as she glanced back over at her fiancé.

"He got his butt kicked," Michaelangelo chuckled with a teasing grin.

Marina rolled her eyes in annoyance but smiled a little.

"I can see that, but how?" she laughed softly.

Michaelangelo's smile faltered and fell as he paused before answering.

"He fought Ao Akuma last night," he whispered finally.

Marina's eyes flung wide and she gasped before looking over to Raphael's twitching form with something akin to panic. Michaelangelo jumped forward and stopped her from flinging herself at the sleeping warrior.

"He's fine," Michaelangelo soothed, "Marina I swear he's fine, busted up a bit but otherwise fine."

She shuddered and closed her eyes then seemed to collect herself as she realized something.

"Why were you-?" She started to ask.

"He's got a concussion," Michaelangelo explained gently, "I was just checking on him; didn't realize you were up."

Marina laughed weakly and sighed before eyeing the still slumbering figure sprawled on the bed. Michaelangelo gave her the slightest of bows before slipping back out of the room to leave his brother's care in her hands. Marina sat back on the edge of the bed and sighed before reaching over and gently stroking the side of Raphael's face. His hands twitched and he grumbled before pulling away as he attempted to burrow further into the pillow.

"Raphie," she coaxed gently with a teasing tone.

Raphael grunted and attempted to shield his head with a sleepy groan. Marina giggled softly before leaning down and kissing the back of his head.

"Get up sleepy head," she teased.

Raphael groaned into the pillow, the sound heavily muffled but obviously one of annoyance. He started to sit up and gave a strangled cry of pain before going limp. Marina placed a soothing hand on the curve of his carapace.

"What hurts?" she asked gently.

There was a muffled laugh before he replied, "Everythin'."

Marina laughed softly in response but gently poked his shoulder with a forefinger.

"Mikey told me you have a concussion. You should get up for a bit and at least eat something," she coaxed playfully.

Raphael sighed heavily, groaned, and then slowly started to sit up. As he did a strained whimper escaped and Marina ignored it for the sake of his pride. Raphael gingerly moved his injured left arm to his chest as he finished sitting up into a kneeling position. Marina watched him as he blinked away sleep and ran his good hand down his face in an effort to finish waking up. Raphael looked _exhausted_ to put it bluntly. Marina was tired herself but he looked too tired to even function. Now that he was sitting up Marina could tell his ribs were hurting by how he was sitting and the dark bruises on his throat made her wince; the left side of his face was also bruised badly, with his left eye mostly swollen shut.

"You look like hell," she whispered softly, "Please be more careful. You aren't easy to replace you know."

Raphael snorted in humor and let out a soft chuckle before lowering his hand from his face and looking at her with a smirk. Despite, or maybe due to, the motley colored bruising with his smirk Raphael looked equal parts badass and adorable. Marina giggled at him.

"You look like you lost a bar fight," she teased.

Raphael let out a bark of laughter before grabbing his ribs with a wince.

"I'm sure I do," he chuckled, then after a moment, "I don't think anyone's managed to make me hurt this much in years."

Marina offered him her hand with a soft laugh and he took it after kissing her palm lovingly.

"Well I am going to freshen up, then I will make us some breakfast," Marina stated with a saucy grin to which Raphael chuckled, "Care to join me?"

She waited only a few moments before standing and walking towards their private bathroom.

"If I can make it there," Raphael sighed after a few moments before cautiously getting to his feet and off of the bed.

"My goodness you act like you're ninety," Marina teased from the bathroom.

"Hey I feel like it," Raphael snapped back good naturedly.

Marina was already in the shower, giggling still over his comment, as Raphael finished undressing in order to join her, but what happened next changed the mood entirely.

Marina gave a little yelp and there was a series of crashes and thuds that sounded like something akin to muted thunder. To most people this simply meant that she had dropped or knocked over the shampoo, body wash, and conditioner bottles but to Raphael it made him freeze in his tracks as he was thrown violently into a flashback before he even had the chance to brace himself for it.

 _We had been moving in full combat gear through a neighborhood in pursuit of a man who had been threatening to blow up the market for the past few days. The man had finally been identified and my squad had been sent out to bring the man in. It was unusual to send out such a heavily prepared squad for one man but there were rumors that he had followers living with him; other men willing to die for their extremist views._

 _I personally was annoyed to be in full gear when it was so ungodly hot outside and I shifted under the blaring sun as one of my team mates moved ahead of me._

 _Samantha Wires, quick, fast, and jubilant was out in front. She was always laughing. Just behind her David Gorden was checking the alleyway._

 _I paused before moving forward, taking note of the eerie quiet that had settled around us, and felt my skin crawl._

 _Something was wrong._

 _We got into the house easily enough though and found the accused man dead with a bullet through his skull._

" _Bloody coward," Reid grunted beside me, another member of my team._

 _I nodded in agreement before motioning for the others to look around. We were all just starting to relax and I was reaching for my com to tell the reserves it was clear to enter and search for evidence when Samantha gave a startled squeak and the sound of half-empty containers clattered to the ground._

" _Jesus Sammy you about gave me a-" Reid started as we all jumped._

 _He didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as the explosion sent us all into the walls and Samantha's screams ripped through the air along with David's horrified shouts. I was stunned by the impact for a moment before I surged to my feet screaming Samantha's name._

 _David was screaming as I staggered forward and I distantly heard Reid shouting into the com for backup. But when I got to David and Samantha everything seemed to come into horrifically sharp focus._

 _She wasn't dead._

 _Oh god she was in pieces and she wasn't dead._

 _She was still screaming…_

Raphael turned and promptly vomited into the sink, lurching forward with such a sudden movement he slipped on the rug and nearly smashed his face into the countertop. Marina had realized something was wrong and had flung the shower curtain open just as Raphael dove for the sink.

"Oh god Raph," she gasped, scrambling out of the shower and over to him.

He was sobbing and shaking like crazy, tears rolling down his cheeks as his stomach lurched and forced him to heave again.

"Fucking dammit," he choked out after he managed to stop the vomiting, "God fucking dammit. I didn't need this shit today."

He leaned heavily into the sink, while body still trembling, as Marina soothingly rubbed his carapace with one hand.

"Just take deep breaths," she coaxed, "You going to be okay?"

"I'll be fucking fine, I just wasn't ready for that," Raphael grouched as he rubbed the tears from his face.

Marina lapsed into silence but continued to soothingly rub his carapace knowing that he was embarrassed not angry. As his trembling slowed and nearly stopped Raphael reached forward and turned on the water to the sink, gagging a little at the vomit there, but attempted to send most of it down the drain.

"Let me take care of that," Marina said softly, placing a hand on Raphael's arm, "go ahead and hop in the shower."

Raphael started to protest but sighed and moved away on shaky legs to finish undressing then climbed into the shower. Forgetting to remove the bandages around his chest and injured arm before he did so.

He didn't seem to care.

Marina quickly finished cleaning out the sink then washed her hands before joining Raphael in the shower. He was leaning into the cold tile, still trembling a little, as Marina gently removed the now soaked bandages and tossed them out of the shower and onto the floor.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she whispered as she hugged him from behind.

Raphael took a deep shaky breath before replying.

"No," he managed, "Just…wasn't ready to see all that again."

Marina nodded as she leaned into his carapace and after a moment Raphael gripped one of his hands around her own.

"Thank you," he whispered softly.

"You're welcome," she replied.

They remained that way until the water started to get cold to which they quickly finished getting clean before exiting the shower together. Neither one brought up the incident but Marina walked over to where she kept a first aid kit and picked it up before turning back to Raphael. The male was lying on his carapace on the bed with his hands covering his face. He looked suddenly older and more worn down. Marina sat on the edge of the bed next to him as she went through the first aid kit in order to find what supplies she would to rewrap his ribs as well as replace the bandage on his injured arm. She worked in silence gently pulling his injured arm forward in order to check the injury as well as the stitches before proceeding to clean and bandage it. Once that was done she reached forward and cupped his cheek.

"Whatever it was Raph, you can't change it and you can't blame yourself for it," she whispered before gently kissing his forehead and sitting back, "let me wrap your ribs."

Raphael shuddered before heaving a sigh and slowly sitting up; avoiding putting weight on his injured arm as he did so. He lifted his arms up allowing Marina to carefully wrap and tape his ribs.

"How…how do you always know what to say?" Raphael asked softly as she finished.

Marina cupped the side of his face again, rubbed her thumb soothingly against it, and looked him in the eye.

"I always know what to say because you always blame yourself," she replied gently, "You act tough and mean but you've got a gentle soul underneath all of that. You just want to protect people."

Raphael chuckled softly.

"Don't tell anyone…I've got a reputation to keep up," he teased softly with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Oh yeah you're totally a badass," Marina winked then with a giggle, "I won't tell anyone you're a big softie I swear."

With that statement she leaned forward and promptly kissed him on the cheek before returning the First Aid kit to the proper corner. Raphael sighed heavily before standing to his feet and walking over to the dresser there.

"You still want to go out for lunch?" Raphael asked softly as he pulled open a drawer and started looking through the shirts there.

"If you're up for it," Marina replied from where she was in the closet, "but we could always do something else…"

The teasing tone in her voice made Raphael look up and blink in surprise. Marina was wearing nothing.

 _Absolutely nothing._

Her towel was on the floor and her brunette hair hung in wavy curls as it dried against her skin. In that moment Raphael forgot the flashback, the panic and the embarrassment it had caused, and found himself staring at Marina with a hungry sort of lust. Marina grinned at him as he continued to stare.

"Well?" she teased, cocking her hips to one side and placing her hands on them.

Raphael let out an audible groan and lurched forward in order to pull her into him. He found himself thankful that he'd already brushed his teeth and the pain he'd been feeling from his injuries seemed to disappear.

"Hell yes," he breathed before capturing her mouth in a passionate kiss.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Michaelangelo was pulling a mug from the cupboard as the sound of Marina's squealing laughter reached his ears. Michaelangelo blinked in surprise then slowly blushed as other, less playful and more passionate, sounds could be heard. He winced a little at the realization of what was happening before attempting to pour himself a cup of coffee with as casual an attitude he could muster while attempting to ignore the all too obvious sounds of intimacy in the other room.

"Looks like we know who's going to hop on the baby train soon," Angel teased as she entered the kitchen.

She was just finishing getting ready for work as she entered and was grinning broadly at the sounds that could be heard and her own joke. Michaelangelo jumped at the sound of her voice, blushed even harder, than turned away while shaking his head with a look that could only be described as equal parts humor and disgust.

"That is the _last_ mental image I needed thanks," he remarked dryly.

Angel laughed loudly which quickly dissolved into giggles at the look on Michaelangelo's face.

"That's not funny!" he grouched, then after a moment, "Geeze they could've at least waited until we left."

Angel was still giggling as she poured herself a cup of coffee as well while erupting into fresh giggles every time Michaelangelo flinched at the noises coming from the other room.

"You're home late," Angel commented, still fighting giggles and failing despite her attempt to change the subject.

"Yeah Raph got roughed up pretty bad at work last night and ended up with a concussion-" Michaelangelo started to reply then frowned at the door of his brother's room before continuing with a dry tone, "Obviously I didn't need to call in today…"

Angel snorted in laughter and nearly sent her coffee cup tumbling to the floor.

"Oh come on it's not funny!" Michaelangelo snapped then after a moment he started chuckling, "okay it kinda is."

Angel continued giggling and nodded before kissing his cheek affectionately.

"We can always get payback on them later," she teased.

Michaelangelo raised an eye ridge with a grin as his blue eyes twinkled mischievously. Angel winked before finishing her coffee and putting the mug in the sink. After which she started gathering up her things for work.

"Well _there is that_ option," he chuckled in reply.

"Did you want to bail on Raph sitting duty and hang out with me for a bit?" Angel offered.

Michaelangelo frowned thoughtfully and sighed.

"As much as I would love to, I might as well finish unpacking stuff if I'm off work today," he replied, "I can at least blast music in our room to drown those two out."

He nodded towards the aforementioned room to which Angel grinned while shaking her head.

"If you change your mind I'm taking a late lunch around two," she offered as she stepped up to kiss Michaelangelo goodbye.

Michaelangelo held her close for a moment, brushing his fingers lovingly against her stomach as if to send his affection to the growing child there.

After she left Michaelangelo frowned toward Raphael's door then sighed heavily and walked down the hall towards his own room pushing the door closed as he entered it. A few moments later loud music erupted from it.

Maria and Raphael were lying in each other's arms by the time that the music started and they both started chuckling at the sound of it.

"Forgot Mikey was home," Marina giggled.

"Eh whatever," Raphael chuckled as he held the petite woman to him while he began to drift off into an exhausted sleep.

Marina was humming softly as Raphael's eyes fluttered closed and she squirmed a little closer to the warrior. She watched him sleep as she rubbed her thumb soothingly against the arm he'd wrapped around her waist. As he relaxed into a deep sleep she sighed and relaxed against him.

Sleep came on swift wings for her as well as they remained entwined in each other's' arms.

Lunch could wait until later.

 **A/N: SO SO SO SORRY for the delay in updating! I've had a lot on my plate lately. I was sick for 2 weeks and thus feel behind in classes, had a death in the family, and I'm now going through a divorce. Expect the next chapter before December and get ready things are about to heat up with some action! You guys have now been introduced to another major player in this story as well as seen a glimpse of what Raphael has been through.**

 **Please leave me a review!**


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